The Fourth Hunter
by Amela333
Summary: Desmond Tiny arrives at Vampire Mountain and names not three, but four hunters who can defeat the Lord of the Vampaneze. How will destiny play out with a fourth hunter? Bits of Arra/Larten. Darren's POV. Spoilers through book 6.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I'm not Darren Shan, and I do not own the characters; this is an original story playing off of the Cirque du Freak series.

**Author's Note: **This is my first story ever posted here - I hope you enjoy it! Comments and advice welcomed!

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**The Fourth Hunter**

I was laying on my cot when Harkat rushed in with the news. I was happy to see that his stitched face wasn't terribly gloomy.

"Arra is going to be all right," he said, and I sat up, grinning. "I just heard from Seba…who was just with Vanez."

"And Vanez…?" I asked tentatively.

Harkat shook his head. "Nobody knows yet, but they…suspect that he will be entirely blind."

I sighed and got to my feet. "Is Mr. Crepsley still with Arra."

"Yes," Harkat nodded, "They're in her room, they moved…her there."

"I'm going to go talk to them," I said.

I headed through the tunnels to Arra's cell. I had been there only once before, when Vanez had brought me there to ask for her help on one of my trials.

I knocked lightly on the door, which opened almost immediately after, revealing a thoroughly exhausted looking Mr. Crepsley.

"Ah, Darren," he said putting a hand on my shoulder and leading me into Arra's room. "I am glad you are here."

"How are you?" I asked, and he shrugged.

"How's she?"

He gave a small smile, "She will pull through, I never doubted she would."

I peered into the room and saw Arra sleeping in her coffin on her side. I couldn't see the wound, but her shirt was pushed up over her stomach, which had allowed some of her blood to stain the side of the coffin. The sight of the coffin covered in blood with Arra in it made me uneasy and I turned away.

"The medics were able to heal her internal wounds," Mr. Crepsley said, taking a seat on a chair next to her coffin and gesturing for me to sit next to him. "I am to stay with her and apply spit to her stomach every now and then to heal the existing damage."

"I'm glad she's going to be okay," I said.

"And so you should be," replied Mr. Crepsley. "Even as they were moving her here, she was insistent upon making it clear that your life should be spared."

"Well, I didn't just mean because of that," I said, and it was the truth; my verdict was the last thing on my mind. Then I grinned, "But that's a good reason too."

Mr. Crepsley smiled and patted my knee, "We will be sure that you are excused. You have been very courageous and shown much character by returning and have proven to be an asset to the clan by your quick thinking. You have made me very proud indeed, Darren."

I turned my head away so he wouldn't see the tears in my eyes and choked, "Thanks."

Once my eyes had dried, I looked up again and saw him looking tenderly at Arra, who had turned, revealing the gaping wound in her stomach. I gasped. Though it looked much better than it had mere hours ago after her fight with Glalda the sight of it caused my stomach to roil. It had gotten larger, stretching from the original wound down to her lower stomach, and I wondered how far it went under the waist of her pants.

"Why is it so big?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"The medic needed to cut it wider to heal her damaged internal organs," Mr. Crepsley said stiffly. "I was too concerned for her life at the time to ask why they cut such a large incision. Needless to say repairing internal organs and cutting through one's skin is no painless feet, and by the time they had stitched her up and I was able to get her to stop shaking, the medic was gone, presumably treating another injured vampire."

I pressed a hand to my mouth feeling nauseous, not at the sight of blood (I was a half-vampire of after all), but at the memories that came with it. I remembered the young vampanze I had killed and immediately felt as though I was going to be sick. I thought of Gavner, who had been killed in much the same way, Vanez, who would never again see the moon. Hate boiled up inside of me for Kurda.

"When's Kurda's trial?" I asked Mr. Crepsley.

His lips pursed and he replied stiffly, "Midnight."

I nodded. "What about Gavner's cremation? Will we get a chance to say…to say…" But I couldn't choke them out between the tears I only then realized were streaming down my face.

"Yes," Mr. Crepsley said softly, putting an arm around my and letting me cry into his shoulder. "Tomorrow will be the cremation of our fallen comrades."

I sniffed and wiped at my eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, gripping my shoulders and moving me out in front of him so he could study my face. "You do not look well."

"I…I…" I gurgled, still unable to speak.

"Battles are never easy," he said quietly. "It is why I decided not to be a General anymore."

"It's terrible," I choked, pulling my knees to my chest.

Arra began to stir, and Mr. Crepsley and I both turned to face her as her eyes blinked open. She squinted at Mr. Crepsley then smiled as he warmly placed a hand on her shoulder. As her eyes came to rest on me, they bugged out of her head and her hand raised shakily out from the coffin. She reached her bloodied, quaking hand out closer and closer to me, until she tapped me on the knee. Then she sighed, smiled, and retracted her hand.

"You're so pale," she said hoarsely. "I thought…I was too late…and they had executed you. I thought you were a…ghost."

I smiled and reached out to touch her shoulder. "Not a ghost," I assured her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got stabbed… in the stomach," she croaked, rolling her eyes and wincing. She turned her gaze to Mr. Crepsley. "Thank you, Larten," she said, "for being with me… while the medics worked on…my stomach. It must have been…fun to watch."

"I have always said you were beautiful inside and out," Mr. Crepsley said with a smile as he reached out to take her hand, and despite the bad taste of the joke I chuckled.

"Darren," he said, "you should rest, it has been a long day for us all."

"So should you," I said pointedly. "I got a chance to rest the last few hours. Why don't you get some sleep and I'll wake you up when it's time to go to the hearing."

"I need to wait here with Arra," Mr. Crepsley said.

"No, you don't," Arra said. "I'll be fine, and Darren…can wait here if it will… help you sleep better. If…I need anything…he'll wake you. Go."

Mr. Crepsley considered her for a second with a doubtful look on his face. Rolling her eyes, Arra said, "As a General, and your…superior, I command that you go … now and sleep."

Mr. Crepsley smiled weakly and replied, "Yes, Arra, I will get some sleep. But I have to apply some saliva to your stomach first."

"Fair enough," she grumbled.

She winced as Mr. Crepsley rubbed spit into her wounds. He rolled down the waste of her pants to reveal the incision stretching all the way down to between her hipbones.

"How does it look?" Arra asked.

"Huge," I answered honestly, and she laughed as Mr. Crepsley shot me a menacing glare. "Why'd they cut it so much?"

"I'm no medic," Arra answered, pushing herself up by the sides of her coffin so she could get a look at her injury, "but this isn't the… first time I've been stabbed. I suspect they do it to ensure the other…organs aren't damaged."

"Oh," I said, feeling slightly better about her large wound. "That makes sense."

"It does," Mr. Crepsley agreed. "How many times have you been stabbed so deeply that they needed to repair internal damage? I do not remember you telling me about any of these occasions."

"Twice," she replied. "Once in a battle, and once… during the Festival of the…Undead more than twenty years ago. I seem to recall…a very drunken Mika Ver Leth betting…Gavner Purl that he could hit a…"

Her voice trailed off suddenly and she turned to Mr. Crepsley. "When are the cremations?" she asked softly. "I'd like to say goodbye."

"Tomorrow," Mr. Crepsley said stiffly, and then got to his feet. "And we all need to rest. Darren, would you mind if I sleep in your cell for now, it is closer."

"I don't care," I said numbly.

"Give me a moment with Arra," Mr. Crepsley said. I looked at him strangely for a seconded - he usually had no problem talking to anyone in front of me - then got up and headed for the door. When I shut it behind me, I intentionally left a crack open.

I was going to go to my room and ask Harkat if he wanted to sit with me and Arra, but curiosity overtook me. I tiptoed back to the door of Arra's room and put my ear to the crack. I could just barely see Mr. Crepsley, who was pacing back and forth beside Arra.

"…cannot do that, Arra!" Mr. Crepsley was saying. "You are in no condition to walk, let alone -."

"I won't let them kill him, Larten!" Arra's voice cut in firmly. "And if that means… I have to run away with him, I… swear to the vampire gods I will!"

"I promise you that I will not let any harm come to Darren," Mr. Crepsley said forcefully. He dropped his voice so low and he leaned forward over Arra so he could whisper right into her ear. I had to strain to hear him. "If it means I will have to leave with him and never return, I will, but you should not be worrying about this now!" His tone softened and he added, "Please. If it would make you feel better, I will bring you to his hearing and you can vouch for him."

"Maybe," Arra said quietly. "But he is a worthy vampire."

"I know he is," Mr. Crepsley. "I am very proud of him."

I smiled to myself out in the hall.

"Now, we should all take some time to sleep. I assume Darren would like to attend Kurda's trial, so I will send Harkat to stay with you while we are there."

"I'm fine," Arra said.

"I know," Mr. Crepsley said with a chuckle, and started for the door.

"Larten?" Arra called him back. "Do you remember what I said earlier, during the battle in the tunnel?"

I could see Mr. Crepsley's face split into a smile. "Yes," he said, kneeling down next to the coffin. He leaned his face over Arra's and gave her a gentle kiss. "Sleep well, my love," he said, putting a hand lovingly on her forehead.

I quickly retreated from the door, feeling very flushed. Seeing Mr. Crepsley so…in love…made me feel strangely different about him. I knew that he had been Arra's mate, but I never imagined them being like a couple, doing things normal couples did, like holding hands, or kissing, or…

I was almost glad that Mr. Crepsley tapped me on the shoulder and interrupted my thoughts.

"Are you sure you will be all right alone with Arra?" he asked.

"Of course!" I said, then grinned. "She can't beat me up too badly with a gaping hole in her stomach."

"You will come and get me if anything happens?"

"Yes," I said, clapping him on the back, "go sleep!"

"Thank you, Darren," he said, and surprised me with a warm, fatherly hug. "You will be all right," he whispered. "I promise I will not let them execute you."

"Thanks," I said, patting him on the back.

As I walked back into Arra's room, I couldn't help but feel that battle wasn't all bad; after all, it seemed to be bringing Arra and Mr. Crepsley together again.

I sat down next to Arra and put my feet up on the other chair.

"I saw you watching through… the door," she said.

"Oh," I said, shifting uncomfortably. "I…I just…"

"I don't care," she said, and her face was more amused than angry.

I didn't know Arra nearly as well as Mr. Crepsley, and though she had initially struck me as harsh, she had since become a good friend, often being warm and understanding to talk to, but not treating me like a child as Mr. Crepsley, Seba, and several others often did. I decided to ask her the question Mr. Crepsley had brushed off.

"Would you and Mr. Crepsley consider mating again?" I asked bluntly, and she smiled.

"To agree to mate with someone… is a commitment," Arra explained, sliding down in her coffin and closing her eyes. "Having an assistant, Larten has to make… decisions based on you already. Even asking him to consider… adding another person to… consider in his decision would be an imposition."

"Oh," I said, frowning. "So you two wouldn't mate again because of me?"

"To put it simply, yes."

I looked down at the ground feeling guilty.

"However," she continued, seeing the pained look on my face, "just because Larten and I may not agree to mate… again does not mean that we cannot have… feelings for each other, or have a relationship."

"Oh," I said, looking up into her smiling face. "Like, you can date each other?"

"If that's how you'd like to refer to it," she said., shrugging.

"So, Mr. Crepsley's your boyfriend?"

Arra laughed and ran a hand through her long, dark hair. "'Boyfriend' has a very immature,… human connotation."

"Well, whatever," I said, grinning. Thinking of Mr. Crepsley having a girlfriend made me giggle.

"You heard Larten," she said irritably, "You need to sleep too."

"I will," I said. "I'm also supposed to make sure you're all right."

"I'll be fine," she said, sinking deeper into her coffin. "But I'm tired. And my stomach burns."

"I can rub some spit on it if it hurts," I said. "It might make it feel better."

She shook her head. "No, I just need to sleep a little. Wake me before you go to the hearing."

"I will," I promised.

"Good day, Darren," she said, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much for the nice reviews, they make me very happy :)!! Hope you'll enjoy this chapter, too! Also, I tried to make the formatting a little clearer this time too, last time it was a little jumbled :P.

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**The Fourth Hunter**

It seemed as though every vampire in the mountain was turning out for Gavner's cremation. Mr. Crepsley had had the foresight to give us extra time to reach the hall. Arra's wounds had healed considerably well after not even a day of rest, and though Mr. Crepsley offered to carry her to the hall, she insisted on walking. It wasn't an especially fast pace as each step seemed to cause her a great deal of pain, but I was in no rush. Harkat and me lead the way, Mr. Crepsley and Arra trailing in our wake. I considered turning back; I wanted desperately to remember Gavner as the vampire I'd know him as – kind, considerate, and jovial – rather than a friend who, in trying to save me, was murdered by a traitor.

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Much to the contrary of what I would have thought, the cremation left me with a certain peace for Gavner's death. As I lay on my cot the morning following the cremation, replaying Kurda's trial in my heard, that peace was what I needed. It had been _awful_, seeing my friend being sentenced to death, and I doubted that I would forget the final look in his eyes as long as I lived. But I reminded myself of Gavner, Vanez who was now blind, Arra who had had to endure such injuries, and then thought of how much worse it could have been. It could have been Mr. Crepsley or Harkat who had been killed, or I could have been impaled the same was Gavner on my trip down the stream.

The thought of my own impalement made me shudder. My hearing for failing my trials and then fleeing would be first thing the next night. Despite the many promises I had received from Mr. Crepsley, Arra, and Harkat, the reality was that whatever was decided by the Princes would be my fate, and I wasn't going to risk my friends' lives by asking them to help me escape.

I would be attending the trial this time, partly because they believed me to be a flight risk (I can't imagine why!), and partly because none of the Generals, no matter how wounded by the battle, were willing to miss it to wait with me, and the Princes didn't trust Harkat.

According to Seba, who had been friends with Paris Skyle longer that most vampires had been alive, the Princes, even Mika, who wouldn't openly admit it, wanted me to live. They would try to find a way to get around the rules to lawfully and respectably let me survive, but if they couldn't (and it was probable that they wouldn't be able to) I would be sentenced to death.

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Harkat woke me as night was beginning to fall.

"It is time for the...hearing," he said quietly as he carefully shook me on the shoulder. "There are guards outside...the door."

I climbed out of my cot and dressed slowly – if this was to be my last night, I wanted to make it last! I ran a hand over my bald head and started solemnly for the door. I stopped before I reached it and turned back to look for Harkat.

"You aren't coming?"

"They won't allow me to. Not after what I did...at your final trial."

"Oh," I said slowly, realization dawning on me. This might be the last time I saw my stitched-together gray friend.

"Bye, Harkat," I said, my throat constricting

"See you, Darren," he said, trying to sound positive.

I paused at the door for a minute, wondering what else there was to say to him. But anything else would have just made it harder. I followed the guards through the tunnels to the Hall of Princes. Every seat in the hall was full; some vampires were even standing in the back. Mr. Creplsey, Arra, Seba, and Vanez were all seated up at the front, right near to podium that I was to stand on – the same podium Kurda had been on not even hours before his execution.

As the hearing began, I couldn't understand what Paris was saying. It was as though my ears had turned off, and my head was filled with a shrill buzzing. I could only see the expressions on their faces, and no one looked as though they had joyous news. I wondered why my mind was blocking this all out – surely if I were to be executed, I would want to know about it _before_ they had me strapped into a cage and were raising me above the stakes!

The first sound in minutes finally penetrated my blockade; it was Mr. Crepsley, and he had just cussed loudly at Paris Skyle.

The vampires around the hall roared with surprise at the outburst by such an upstanding, respected vampire. Arra looked only mildly surprised, and I had a suspicion that she and Mr. Crepsley had prepared together how to best argue my case.

Seba grabbed Mr. Crepsley by the elbow as he tried to storm onto the podium.

"You will so readily send Darren to the stakes now, but when he had information to help all of you – to SAVE all of you – I did not see you open your mouths in protest!" Mr. Crepsley boomed, struggling against Seba. Vanez blindly reached out a hand to help Seba, but Arra put a hand on his shoulder and whispered "No, Vanez" into his ear.

"Larten, we allowed you into this hall against our better judgment on your word that you would hold yourself in a composed manner," Arrow said calmly, but firmly.

"The hell with composure!" Mr. Crepsley barked, a phrase I never thought I'd hear him say. Had it been a situation where my life wasn't at stake (no pun intended), I probably would have laughed. "Darren will be excused fully for his actions! He is not a full vampire and should not be punished as one."

"We agreed to let him take the trials to prove his worth as a vampire, and though his recent actions were courageous, the preceding events must be looked at first and foremost, and the penalty is death," Mika Ver Leth said gruffly, not meeting Mr. Crepsley's eye. "Now calm yourself, Larten, or we will have you removed from the hall."

"Darren is young," Mr. Crepsley said, more softly. "I only ask that he not be responsible for his actions; if it is execution you want, take my life instead of his, and allow him time to prove himself –."

"NO, Larten!" Arra said, struggling to her feet, and I could see from the look in her eyes that this was not part of their plan. Seba tried to push her back into her seat, and though she winced, she resisted.

"Arra Sails," Mika said, sighing. "As a General, you –."

"With all due respect, sire," she said slowly, nodding her head at the Princes, "there has been enough death. Darren and Larten have proven that they are important to our clan. I wonder if you recall that, had Darren not be persuaded to run away, all three of you would be dead and the Stone of Blood would be at the mercy of the Vampaneze and the traitor Kurda Smahlt."

"Arra," Paris sighed, "you are not the only one to wish that there was a way to spare the boy's life. If you can suggest a lawful, respectable way in which to save Darren, we will surely consider it. Can you?"

Arra fixed her gaze on each of the Princes, then on me, before answering with a defiant nod. Every vampire in the hall began muttering amongst themselves, staring from the standing Arra and Mr. Crepsley to me, my mouth hanging open on the podium.

"I can, sire," Arra confirmed, and Mr. Crepsley's eyes were as wide as mine and anyone else's.

"I believe that Darren, at the very least, and Larten have important roles to play in the future of the vampires, and must not be killed," she began. But she was interrupted before she could continue.

"Very well said, Miss Sails," a familiar voice said from the back of the hall, and every vampire turned in horror to stare at the speaker: _Desmond Tiny!_

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_Thanks for reading! Same as before, I'd love to hear your feedback!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N: **Thanks yet again for all the nice reviews, so sorry for leaving you all with a cliffhanger, but I just couldn't resist :D. And of course, any tips, reviews, suggestions etc. are welcome!!

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Desmond Tiny descended on the hall, his arms outstretched as if preparing to embrace an old friend.

"My, my, the hall is looking nice!" he said. "Who was that genius architect who designed it? Ah, yes, it was me!"

"Desmond Tiny," Paris Skyle said, and I tore my eyes away from Mr. Tiny momentarily to glance at Paris and the other Princes, all on their feet. "To what do we owe this visit?"

"I have news for you," he said, stepping onto the podium and clapping me on the back. "Darren, my boy, in a spot of trouble, but no need to fear, it sounds as though Arra Sails has the solution. Arra?"

Arra had resumed her seat; she was pale and had a hand pressed against her shirt, on which a small red spot was growing larger by the second. She spit on her hands and quickly rubbed it into her stomach, lifting her hands and staring at the blood on them. She wiped them off on her pants and shakily got to her feet again. Mr. Crepsley reached out to support her, but she brushed his hands away.

"The only vampires who cannot be killed because of failure of the trials are Princes," Arra said, her eyes squeezed closed. "Darren must become a vampire Prince."

There was a moment of silence in the hall in which everyone stared at her, wondering if she had lost too much blood and wasn't thinking clearly, but one by one, each began chattering with their neighbor, chuckling, and nodding their heads.

I gaped at Arra, who shrugged and returned to her seat, sighing as she sat. Surely she couldn't be serious!

"Arra Sails is correct," Arrow said slowly. "If Darren were a Prince, we wouldn't even consider execution."

"That...that is absurd!" Mr. Crepsley said, though his face was splitting into a smile. "It must be done! This is the way to save Darren!"

"He's only a half-vampire," someone shouted doubtfully form the seats; after the outbursts of Mr. Crepsley and Arra and Mr. Tiny's entrance, order seemed to be waning. "Never before has a half-vampire been investitured as a Prince!"

"But there are no rules saying they cannot be," Mika said, smiling at me.

"Still..." someone else said hesitantly.

"Enough." The moderate-toned voice silenced us all, and we turned to Mr. Tiny, who was no longer smiling. "Would you be so fast to kill one of those who could kill the Vampeneze Lord?"

Order had been restored; not one vampire spoke.

"That's why I'm here," Mr. Tiny said, his voice growing louder. He was now speaking to the entire hall. "The Lord of the Vampaneze has been blooded, and is now a half-vampaneze."

A mummer swept over the hall, ending as soon as it began; every vampire was eager to hear what Mr. Tiny had to say.

"However, it is possible to defeat him," Mr. Tiny continued, "if you can destroy him before he becomes a full vampire. Then victory will belong to the vampires.

"There are six ways you can defeat him. Unfortunately, your first chance was the now-dead Kurda Smahlt. That leaves you five. The last one is not a possibility till the very end, when all else has failed, or, all the worse for you, if the chances have gone by unnoticed. There's another one that I'm knocking off the list because it's not my style...it wouldn't be...exciting!"

He grinned around and the hall, as if daring someone to ask what it was – no one did.

"Three left. These three will be encounters, and they are why I've traveled all the way to this desolate mountain. Only four vampires will be able to kill the Vampeneze Lord, and though they can decide to withdraw from the hunt, I would advise against it; in order for the vampires to prevail, they must search for him. Three are present in this hall. As for the other hunter, I would advise heading to the cave of Lady Evanna, and I assume you'll meet up with him on the way."

"Who are the present hunters?" Paris Skyle asked quietly. Every vampire in the hall sat up straight as they stared at Desmond Tiny.

"Well, that takes us full circle," Mr. Tiny said, clasping me on the shoulder – I nearly fell over. I wondered fleetingly why I was standing on this podium to begin with, then remembered that this had all started as my hearing.

"I am not a vampire, and I can't tell you how to apply your silly laws," Mr. Tiny said. "But I will tell you that if you do not permit young Darren Shan to live, you will be minus one hope of triumph."

"Darren is one of the hunters?" Arrow asked, exchanging glances with Mika and Paris.

"Yes."

The vampires began to mumble again, and from the looks on their faces, they were beginning to think less of their chances. I inhaled sharply at the thought of the fate of the vampire clan resting on my shoulders.

"Then he will be spared," Mika said. "There should be no question about it. If Darren Shan must become a Prince, then so be it."

He gave me a forced smile, then leaned in to talk to the other Princes.

"Would you be so kind as to share with us the other two present hunters, Desmond?" Paris asked.

"It would be my pleasure," Mr. Tiny said dryly. "The sooner you know, the sooner the hunt begins. The other two hunters are Larten Crepsley and Arra Sails."

The entire hall was staring back-and-forth between me, Mr. Crepsley, and Arra. They both had their eyes trained on Mr. Tiny, though Mr. Crepsley gave me a quick, reassuring nod as I briefly met his eye.

"However," Mr. Tiny said, silencing the nervous vampires, "non-vampires may aid in the hunt, and though they may not kill the Lord of the Vampaneze, they will be a crucial part."

"Like Harkat?" I asked; my throat was so dry that it came out as a muffled croak.

"Harkat Mulds could accompany you, yes, Master Shan," Mr. Tiny smiled., "though he doesn't need to. In fact, before I depart, I need a private word with Harkat. Which reminds me, I am operating on a tight schedule, so let me finish up. No other vampire may try to seek out the hunters unless it is on completely unrelated business. I suggest that you go about your merry way and leave the concerns to the hunters. Within the five years these encounters will occur, I warn you to leave them to their own accord. Once all is said and done, if all other options have been tried and failed, there will be a final showdown, to determine the fate of the Undead."

He looked around the hall, spreading his arms for affect.

"Though," he continued, "that would not take place for a great many years. But I'll be waiting."

He smiled maliciously, then turned to Paris Skyle. "Make the boy a Prince if you want him to join Arra Sails and Larten Creplsey. Otherwise, execute him and get it over with so we can move on."

Paris stood. "We will make Darren a Prince," he said. "There are no laws against a young half-vampire becoming a Prince."

"Then make it snappy," Mr. Tiny said gruffly. "I'll be in his cell with Harkat Mulds when he's done, send him there with Creplsey and Sails. No one else."

And without another word, Mr. Tiny strode out of the hall.

There was a moment of utter silence, in which every vampire played out Mr. Tiny's instructions in their heads, all trying to predict the future. The Mika Ver Leth stood and ushered everyone out of the hall – it was time for me to become a Prince!

-----

I didn't feel like a Prince as Arrow carried me to my cell. I glanced from his muscular arms to my skinny forearm – granted, I was much stronger than I looked, but compared to many of the other vampires, I was a beanpole. Not even a beanpole, I was too short...I was a toothpick. I yawned and grimaced. My muscles ached, and my eyes were barely able to stay open.

"Did you feel like this when you were made a Prince?" I asked Arrow sleepily.

"Not quite," Arrow said. He smiled. "Though, I was a full vampire, and I hadn't just had the weight of the vampire clan put on my shoulders."

"No pressure, right?" I grinned weakly.

"No pressure," he agreed, chuckling.

We had reached the tunnel my cell was off of. He put me down and steadied me as I shook on my feet. He slowly let go to let me balance on my own.

"Okay?" he asked.

"I think I can make it from here," I said. "Thanks, Arrow."

"Don't mention it...Sire!" he said, chuckling and clasping my shoulder. "I'm glad that Arra could come up with a way to save you. None of us wanted to see you die."

"Thanks," I said, though having someone tell me that they didn't want me to die wasn't exactly the most flattering compliment I had ever heard! "Will I see you before I leave?"

"I think so," Arrow said. "I assume you won't leave immediately, as Arra's wounds aren't fully healed yet."

"Oh, right," I said, picturing the blood pouring from her stomach while we were in the hall of Princes. If she could stand and make such a monumental announcement to all those vampires after being impaled in the stomach barely twenty-four hours before, I could certainly make it to my cell, no matter how tired my muscles were! "I'll see you soon."

He gave me a smile and then turned to return to the Hall of Princes. I leaned against the wall of the tunnel for a moment to steady myself and clear my thoughts. Realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I. Was. A. Vampire. Prince.

With a little skip, I started towards my cell. I was starting to feel stronger already. I rounded a corner and saw Mr. Crepsley and Arra seated on the ground outside my cell. They had obviously heard me coming, and both were smiling.

I stopped in front of Arra, unsure of exactly what to say.

"Wow!" I said, and she and Mr. Crepsley laughed.

I coughed a couple times, and then decided to take a leaf from Mr. Crepsley's book and elaborate a bit. "If it hadn't been for you, I'd be in a cage being dropped onto stakes right now," I said. "Thank you, Arra. How did you think of it so quickly when no one else did?"

"Sometimes being a female around a bunch of men has its advantages," she said, grinning, then became serious. "It was do or die, and Larten didn't seem to be making any headway."

"I told you," he said, "Darren, you would have survived, one way or a another, even if I had to go and remove every stake from the hall of execution by hand." Then he added, "But Arra's idea was much more practical."

I smiled at him, then, with a choked chuckle, I shouted, "I'm alive!"

He sprung to his feet and embraced me. "Yes, Darren, you are alive! And you are a vampire Prince. Congratulations, Sire!" Then he lowered his voice. "Do not let it go to your head, you are still my assistant."

"Grouchy old donkey," I muttered, punching him jokingly on the shoulder.

I bent down and gave Arra a loose hug to avoid irritating her injury and then sat down on the tunnel floor and looked at the door to my cell.

"Is Mr. Tiny in there with Harkat?" I asked, and Mr. Crepsley nodded. "Poor Harkat. I wonder if we should go in."

"Interrupting Des Tiny is never a wise idea," Mr. Crepsley said, shaking his head. "He said he would not be long."

He sat next to Arra (and I noted with a smug grin that he sat so near that her left hip was pressed right against him) and leaned back against the wall of the tunnel.

"What happened to your stomach in the Hall of Princes?" I asked Arra.

"I whipped around when Desmond Tiny spoke," she said. "I think a couple of my stitches burst."

"Oh," I said, slightly disappointed. I had thought it was some strange supernatural reaction to the arrival of Mr. Tiny, like when dogs start going crazy before a natural disaster, but now that I thought of it, that made much more sense.

"We will not be able to depart Vampire Mountain until you have recovered enough to flit," Mr. Crepsley said. "If we switch off carrying Darren, we will be able to go for longer."

"What about Harkat?" I said. "What if he wants to come with us?"

"Then Arra will carry you, and I shall take Harkat," he said simply. "We would just have to go more slowly."

I hoped Harkat would come with us. I had grown very close to the Little Person during our stay in Vampire Mountain, and I enjoyed having a non-vampire as company; sometimes he thought more similarly to me than any of them. Plus, I had a feeling that if it was going to be just me, Mr. Crepsley, and Arra, I was going to feel like a third wheel (at least until we met up with the mystery hunter).

I was going to ask Mr. Crepsley if he thought Harkat should come or not, but at that moment, the door swung open and Mr. Tiny stepped out, smiling.

"Come in, I need a word with you three," he said, beckoning us forward with his hand. Mr. Crepsley helped Arra to her feet and they followed me into my room.

Harkat was sitting on my cot, his eyes a bright green. He gave me a jagged smile as I sat down next to him.

"Congratulations, Sire," he said. "I knew you would survive...the hearing."

"Thanks," I smiled; it kept slipping my mind that I was a Prince, but every time I thought of it, a childish grin appeared on my face. Then I turned serious. "Are you coming with us?"

Before Harkat could answer, Mr. Tiny cut in. "So, Harkat has decided to accompany you on your quest."

Harkat and I grinned at each other as Mr. Tiny continued.

"Now, as I said before, you cannot receive help from any other vampires," he said. "I can't tell you exactly where to go, but follow your hearts. I do suggest swinging by to visit Evanna, otherwise you may lose the chance at acquiring your other hunter. Any other questions?"

"Can you tell us the other option, the one you didn't like, just in case the others don't work?" I asked hopefully.

He turned and gave me a threatening smile. "No." Why was I not surprised? He continued, "If the other three fall through, I MIGHT-" he stressed the word, "-tell you the other option. But it requires time and effort, and I'd rather just sit back and watch you and the Vampaneze duke it out like naughty little siblings.

"Now, if you want to trouble me with any other questions that I probably won't answer anyway, go ahead, otherwise, I'd like to go watch an earthquake due to hit any day now in the middle of the Atlantic, and you are tying me up."

I looked from Mr. Crepsley to Arra to Harkat. Finally, we all shook our heads. Clapping his hands together, Mr. Tiny said, "Then I'll be off. Best of luck to you all."

As he left the room, we could hear him chuckling. Then there was total silence. I looked up at Mr. Crepsley, a questioning look on my face. It was one of the rare occasions that he looked as confused as I did.

"So, when do we leave?" Harkat asked, after several minutes of silence.

Harkat and I looked up at Mr. Crepsley and Arra.

"Ordinarily," Mr. Crepsley began, a smile threatening to spread on his usually serious mouth, "It would be in the hands of the highest-ranking member of the group to decide."

I looked at Arra, a General, but she smiled and shook her head. "That would be you, Darren."

My face drooped as I realized that being a Prince wouldn't be as easy as I thought.

"However," Mr. Crepsley said, patting me on the knee, "as you are my assistant, and, in relation to me or Arra, very much a child, I consider you a minor, and as your technical guardian, I think it would be acceptable for me or Arra to advise you."

I blinked. "Huh?"

He smiled, "As we are hunting the Lord of the Vampaneze together, we will make decisions together."

"There," I said, rolling my eyes. "Wasn't it easier to just say that?"

"No, it was not," he huffed, folding his arms. "It was imprecise and..."

With a sigh, Arra gently put her fingers over his lips and he stopped talking immediately, his ears turning red.

I stifled a giggle; I was starting to really like the idea of Arra traveling with us.

* * *

Enjoyed it? I hope so!


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N: **Other than telling you all how much I appreciate the reviews (thanks :)!), not much to say except: Enjoy!

* * *

Three nights later, we left Vampire Mountain. There was no moonlight, the snow surrounding the mountain was slick and icy, and and it was starting to hail. I hoped that this wasn't a signal as to how our hunt for the Vampaneze Lord would play out.

The snow was compacted and I could balance on top of the ice if I was careful and stepped lightly. Harkat, Mr. Crepsley, and Arra weren't as lucky. Almost every step sunk them deep into the white wetness, and the jagged holes in the ice that their feet left lacerated their legs. A pattern was starting to develop in the sounds of the first leg of our journey: step, crack, swearing, spitting, spit-being-rubbed-into-legs. It was starting to drive me insane.

Mr. Crepsley and Arra led the way, and I noticed that he often extended a hand to help her out of particularly deep snow mounds. Usually she ignored it, but a couple times (when she thought I wasn't watching) she would take it and give him a smile. Then, as she kept walking, Mr. Crepsley would promptly turn around to see if I had noticed, and I would look quickly away, grinning like a ten-year-old.

As we progressed, the snow started getting softer, and I was beginning to fall through the ice. As a prince, I was embarrassed to ask Mr. Crepsley or Arra to linger back to put some of their healing spit on my legs, and as a result, up to the the middle of my thighs were bloody and raw.

"These are terrible conditions," I complained. "How much longer are we going to have to deal with this?"

After Mr. Tiny had left, it had been decided that the no-flitting-to-and-from Vampire Mountain rule would be partially lifted; now it was permissible to flit until you were in sight of the mountain, and likewise, if you were leaving it, you could begin flitting until it was out of sight. Arra's stomach was entirely healed, and though there was a long pink scar, she insisted that she could flit with me on her back.

"Not much longer," Mr. Crepsley assured me, turning around to look for the mountain. "Very soon, in fact."

"Good," I grumbled. "'This sucks."

Arra began to laugh. "What?" I snapped irritably. "You like having your legs split open?"

"No," she said. "It strikes me as funny that you haven't seemed to pick up any of Larten's mannerisms. I don't think anyone alive today has heard him utter the phrase 'This sucks.'"

"Darren chooses to remain human in his speaking," Mr. Crepsley said, and I had a feeling that it was something that bothered him. "He has decided that my precise and thought-out way of speaking is not... what do humans say? Not...cold?"

"What?" I asked, wondering what he meant by 'not cold'.

"A phrase you use, meaning that something is good. It used to mean that something was slightly chilled, but now of course young people have..."

"Oh!" I said, cracking up. "You mean 'cool', you old geezer!"

Once I had stopped laughing, I asked, "Do vampires usually try to copy their mentors, like you did Seba?"

"Usually, but it depends on how thick the individual's skull is to begin with," he said, but he smiled to show me he was joking.

"Who blooded you, Arra?" Harkat asked.

"Arrow did," she said.

"Arrow the Prince?" I asked, surprised.

She made a face. "No, one of the other hundred Arrows we know. Yes, he blooded me when he wasn't very old himself; actually, he was barely a full vampire for ten years when he first blooded me."

"Do you act a lot like him?" I asked; I didn't know Arrow well enough to say.

She considered it for a second before nodding, "I suppose I have picked up some of his ways...he has the same determination I do."

"And the same stubbornness," Mr. Crepsley said admiringly, reaching out to put a hand gently on the side of her face. He retracted the hand as if burnt when he saw me smirking.

"Why did you become a vampire?" I asked. Arra gave me a strange, serious look. Then I realized what a forthright question it was; I didn't even know why Mr. Crepsley had been blooded. "Sorry," I said quickly. "That wasn't polite, you don't have to answer."

"No, it's all right," she said, shaking her head. "It's not something vampires usually discuss; for many of us, the reasons are very personal, and often bring up painful memories, so your question threw me off. For me, I ran away from home when I was fifteen, thinking anywhere was better than there. I was wrong. Luckily Arrow found me before my life could take a turn for the even worse."

I glanced at Mr. Crepsley, wondering if he knew the whole story, but he only shook his head when he saw me, warning me not to press her any harder.

"The mountain is out of sight," Mr. Crepsley said several moments later, breaking the silence. "We can begin flitting."

Harkat would be on Mr. Crepsley's back, and I would be with Arra. I felt strange getting on her back; Mr. Crepsley was tall, much taller than me, but Arra wasn't even two inches taller. Then I remembered how she'd knocked me out cold on the bars during the beginning of my stay at Vampire Mountain, and I climbed onto her back without hesitation.

When Arra was flitting, it felt different than with Mr. Crepsley. To keep up with him, her legs had to move faster, and it made the ride much more bumpy. I had to hold on much tighter and not lean back for fear of tipping her over. Mr. Crepsley was slightly in front of us, leading the way. He knew how to find the Lady Evanna Mr. Tiny had spoken about. I had asked him who she was in between Mr. Tiny's visit and our departure of Vampire Mountain, but he said that it was too hard to explain, and that I should ask Arra. Arra told me that she knew little about Lady Evanna, as she had never met her, and suggested I ask Mr. Crepsley. After trying Seba and Vanez with similar results, I decided to wait till we left the mountain to ask again.

I wasn't quite sure how long we flitted, but by the time we stopped we were at the edge of a forest. I slid off Arra's back and looked around, expecting to see Mr. Crepsley and Harkat right in front of us, but they were no where in sight.

"Where'd they go?" I asked. "They were right her a second ago!"

"He didn't notice me stop," she said simply. She started walking along the edge of the forest, craning her neck and standing on tiptoe as if she were trying to see something in the trees.

"So they kept going?" I asked, jogging to keep up with her.

"Yes, but I'm sure he noticed soon after that we weren't behind him and stopped," she assured me distractedly.

"So we aren't at Lady Evanna's?"

"We won't be there for many weeks," she said. I was surprised; I had assumed that it wouldn't be far away.

"Why did you stop then?" I asked.

She pointed up towards the tree line, and at first nothing caught my attention, but then I saw a slight glow above the trees. I nodded to indicate that I saw, and then said, "What are you looking for?"

"A place we can spend the day," she said, returning to her pacing of the forest's edge.

"Oh," I said, nodding. I looked around again, and still saw no sign of Mr. Crepsley. "Why haven't they found us yet?"

"He must not have noticed as soon as I thought she would," Arra answered, sounding unconcerned.

"What will we do if they can't find us?" I asked; I hadn't realized how dependent I was on Mr. Crepsley, but the idea that we may have lost him and Harkat was causing a knot in my stomach to grow tighter.

"They will, Larten and I can locate each other," she said.

"Where do –?" I began.

"Darren," she said, turning around to face me, sounding exasperated, "why don't you help me look for somewhere to hide from the sun instead of distracting me with questions?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," I said, taken aback. "Why don't –." I stopped, then thought for a second before rephrasing. "I think if we went in a little we could see better."

"Yes," she said. "But Larten and Harkat will be able to see us more easily out of the trees. They'll be here soon, then we can really start looking."

"Oh, all right," I said, and started to help her search the first few yards of forest for a spot that would provide protection from the sun.

It wasn't long before Mr. Crepsley and Harkat found Arra and me, and then we started into the forest. The forest was dark now, but the canopy above wasn't particularly thick, and I knew that by the time the sun was above us, it would be too bright for the vampires.

Finally Harkat spotted a ditch in the ground with many dense bushes around the edges, a perfect shelter for a day's rest. I put down my small bag of belongings then went with him to find food. The forest had a surprising number of animals, and we were able to bring back a deer and some rabbits in less than half an hour.

While we ate, I decided to ask about Lady Evanna again. Mr. Crepsley sighed as he wiped his mouth. "I told you that she was very difficult to explain."

"I know, but just tell me who she is," I pressed. "Is she a vampire, or is she a human?"

"I suppose you could fit her into several categories," he said thoughtfully.

"It might be easier to think of her as a sorceress," Arra said. "She has many powers that vampires and humans do not."

"So, she's like, a witch?" I asked, and Mr. Crepsley winced.

"She can be compared to a witch," he said. "But whatever you say to her, do not refer to her as a witch to her face."

"Why?"

He sighed. "Trust me, Darren," he said. "For once, please do not question my judgment. You have not seen anger until you have come face-to-face with the wrath of the Lady Evanna."

"I won't call her a witch," I promised. "But I still don't get it; why are we going to see her?"

"Because Desmond Tiny instructed us to," Mr. Crepsley said, leaning back against the slope of the ditch.

"And it's always useful to have a starting point," Arra added. "And though I haven't met Lady Evanna, I am very interested to hear what she has to say about the task ahead of us, among other things."

"Like what?"

"I don't recall being so inquisitive when I was young, do you, Larten?" Arra asked with fake irritation, though I could tell by the way the corners of her mouth twitching she was just kidding around with me.

"No," Mr. Creplsey said, also hiding a grin. "I remember distinctly that if Seba told me to drop something, I would trust the guidance of my mentor and lay the subject to rest."

"If you were such a good assistant, and I'm so annoying, why was I made a Prince and you weren't?" I asked, smiling evilly at the vampire.

He glared at me while Harkat roared with laughter, before shaking his head and saying, "If you remember, I was on the verge of becoming a Prince myself when I resigned from being a General."

"Why'd you resign?" I asked.

"Enough questions," he snapped, and I could see that I was really bothering him now. "We all must rest."

And without another word, he slid down so he could stretch out on the mossy ground, then pulled his cloak up over his face. I turned to ask Arra, but she had the same annoyed and troubled look on her face Mr. Crepsley did, so I let it drop.

I sighed and finished my meat, then chucked the bones out of the ditch and lay down. I waited until I thought that Mr. Crepsley and Arra would be asleep, then turned to Harkat, who was sitting next to me. The Little Person didn't need much sleep, and the sunlight didn't bother him, so I doubted if he was sleeping at all.

"Harkat," I hissed, and he turned his glowing green eyes to look at me.

"What?" he whispered back.

"Why do you think Mr. Crepsley resigned from being a General?" I asked.

"I was just wondering...about that," Harkat whispered, nodding. "I wonder if it was when he and Arra decided to mate?"

"I don't think so," I said. "I've heard them talk about going on adventures together when they were both Generals."

He thought a second. "I don't know," he said finally. "I don't think he wants...to talk about it, so we may...never know."

I frowned; I wasn't usually a nosy person, but Mr. Crepsley and Arra had spiked my curiosity when they hadn't wanted to answer.

"Maybe not," I sighed, though the idea of pulling rank on them was beginning to cross my mind. "Goodnight," I said to Harkat – I couldn't get used to wishing people a good day, it just didn't sound right.

"'Night," he replied, and before the sun had risen, we had both drifted off to sleep.

-----

It wasn't long before I woke with a start as something heavy landed on my leg.

"Ow!" I cried, sitting up. "What the hell was –."

Before I could finish, Arra's hand clamped over my mouth and she hissed, "Shhh!" in my ear.

I gave her a thumbs up to show that I wouldn't make any more loud noises, and when she retracted her hand, I asked in barely a whisper, "What was that?"

She pointed at herself, then mouthed, "Sorry." She pointed out of the ditch and tapped her ear, indicating that she wanted me to listen.

I scrunched my face up as I struggled to hear whatever it was that had woken her up, but I couldn't hear a sound. As a half-vampire, my hearing wasn't as good as Arra's. I glanced to my left to see if Mr. Crepsley was awake, but his deep breaths from beneath his red cloak told me that he was still asleep, also oblivious to the sound that had alerted Arra.

When she looked at me expectantly, I shook my head and shrugged. She sighed and rolled her eyes, pointing deliberately to an area outside of the ditch.

"I'm sorry," I mouthed, "I don't hear it."

She crept over to Mr. Crepsley and lifted the cloak off of him. She tossed it to the side then shook him on the shoulder. With a jolt, he sat bolt upright, already wide awake. Arra pointed in the same direction she had to me, but Mr. Crepsley seemed to hear whatever it was she was referring to. He clambered to his feet and crouched down so that his red hair wouldn't be visible from outside the ditch.

After a few tense moments, I could hear what they were listening to. I had been listening for talking, or the sounds of an animal's footsteps, but instead, I heard shuffling, as if someone was stumbling drunkenly through the woods. My muscles tensed as I got to my feet, fearing the worst.

Before any of us could react, there was a loud cracking as the brush above us gave way and someone landed right next to me!

* * *

Looking forward to hearing what you all think :)!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **See chapter one.

**A/N: **Not to sound like a broken record, but thanks to all who have read and reviewed, please continue, I appreciate it so so so so much!!

* * *

I yelped and stumbled backwards, sure that this was our first encounter with the Vampaneze Lord, and that he would slaughter us all. I wondered fleetingly why Mr. Crepsley and Arra hadn't sprung into action yet, then grabbed a knife that was sticking out of my bag and held it out in front of me.

The Vampaneze Lord flicked his head towards me, and his green hair flew momentarily up in the air. He was as terrifying looking as I had imagined – his skin was red and flaking, and it stood out against his purple, crudely made clothes. His eyes were slightly red. Without a word, his hand came spinning up and knocked the blade clean out of my hands! I gasped, wondering what to do from here. In my panic, it took me a minute to realize that Mr. Crepsley, Arra, and the Vampaneze Lord had begun laughing.

"What –?" I began, startled.

"Darren, this is Vancha March," Mr. Crepsley said, and I immediately flushed with embarrassment at having mistaken the Vampire Prince as the Vampaneze Lord.

"I –," I wheezed, trying to stop my hands from shaking at my sides, "I thought..." My voice trailed off as I wiped my brow.

"How are you, sire?" Arra asked, stepping forward, and I noted that she extended a hand to him. He shook it and shrugged, "As good as I could be with the world in the state it is." He shook Mr. Crepsley's hand, then turned to face me.

"So, you're the half-vampire Prince, I take it?" he said, and I nodded, taking his outstretched hand.

"It's an honor to meet you, Sire," I said quickly, bowing my head to him.

"Yes, I could tell by the warm welcome you gave me," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

I heard a shuffle behind me, and turned to see a very confused looking Harkat. Mr. Crepsley made brief introductions between the Little Person and the Prince. Vancha already knew about Harkat (he had run into a vampire who had been at the Council, who had told him all about me and my trials and Harkat and his word of the Vampaneze Lord, and then had been telepathically contacted by Arrow about my investiture as a Prince), but he still seemed uneasy and gruff talking to the Little Person.

"What are you doing here, Sire?" Arra asked, after we had all settled back down.

"And what were you doing walking around in the open during the day?" I asked.

Vancha chuckled, "Many years ago, I waged a war against the sun. I subject myself to the light every several weeks to toughen my skin and eyes; that's what I was doing today, but unfortunately I misjudged the brightness of the day, and before I knew it, I was stumbling into the woods with my skin peeling off!"

"You mean you're trying to become resistant to the sun?" I asked, raising my eyebrows, and he nodded. "That's..." I couldn't find the word immediately, "...crazy!"

He shrugged, then grinned. "That's what I've been told, but I have decades to experiment with it."

He then turned his attention to Arra's question, "I was heading for the cave of Lady Evanna, but decided to take the long route to investigate a lot of very gruesome murders in a city near here. I doubt it concerns us, but I wanted to look into it.

"More importantly," he continued, "where are you all going? I've gotten very brief messages from the other Princes, but I'm not quite sure I understand what's going on."

Only a couple minutes into our explanation, we decided it could wait till night so we could all get some rest before it was time to continue our journey. Vancha agreed, and while Mr. Crepsley, Arra, Harkat, and I lay down again, he went to find some water to dunk into to soothe his still bright red skin from his excursion in the sun.

-----

I didn't realize how tired I was until the next night when we started off again. We had decided to get to Lady Evanna's cave via the city Vancha had wanted to investigate – after all, Mr. Tiny had said to follow our hearts, and since we were assuming that Vancha was the other hunter, there wasn't any fear of not reaching Lady Evanna's in time to add our other comrade.

We agreed to walk for a while, since Mr. Crepsley and Arra had flitted all day yesterday and so that we could catch Vancha up on all that had happened at Vampire mountain. Vancha seemed very skeptical of Mr. Tiny and his instructions.

"He had us believing for years that the rise of the Vampaneze Lord meant instant death for the Vampire clan, then turns around and tells us that that's not true; why should we believe him now?" Vancha huffed.

Arra shrugged, "It's our only hope. Three encounters leave us pretty decent odds of defeating the Vampaneze Lord; there are four of us, after all."

"And how many Vampaneze are aiding this Vampaneze Lord? Vancha snapped. "There could be hundreds, then the odds aren't quite stacked in our favor, are they?"

"No, but right now it is the only choice we have," Mr. Crepsley pointed out. "It is not as though he has asked us to leap into a battle blindly, he merely suggested that we search for the Vampaneze Lord if we would like to defeat him."

Vancha complained a bit more, but he agreed that he'd rather take his chances and trust Mr. Tiny than purposefully defy him and face the almost certainly gloomy future without having tried to stop it.

The city he had wanted to inspect was nearby, and we were able to see the skyline and hear the roar of cars several hours before sunrise. Harkat and I assumed that we would be staying in a hotel, but when I started to ask where we'd be going, Mr. Crepsley silenced me immediately. Later, while Vancha and Arra went into the city to feed, and Mr. Crepsley, Harkat, and I were camped out under a weeping willow tree, he told me that Vancha was staunchly opposed to sleeping in anything more comfortable than a wooden coffin, and preferred the ground.

"So, we're going to be sleeping on the ground for...how long till we get to Lady Evanna's?" I asked incredulously, staring in disgust at the rocks and twigs on the ground around us.

"It will be around six or seven weeks, though that depends on how much we flit and how long we stay here," Mr. Crepsley said, and I grimaced. He smiled when he saw my expression. "Though, I have been considering suggesting a hotel anyway. Staying in hotel means we will be able to better investigate the murders. I do not think Vancha would mind, granted he could sleep on the floor. If you wanted to have your own room, I am sure he would understand, and then perhaps you would be able to sleep somewhere more to your liking."

I grinned; it wasn't like Mr. Crepsley to encourage me to continue, as he put it, "acting like a human". He usually had no preference as to whether we stayed in a comfortable hotel room with fluffy pillows and a warm blanket or if we slept on the stiff ground with stones in our spines and bugs crawling up our necks. I wondered why he suddenly wanted to stay in a hotel.

"Maybe, as a Prince, you should propose the idea?" he suggested.

"Yeah, okay," I said, looking at him suspiciously.

"Yes," he continued, stroking his scar thoughtfully. "Of course, it would be impractical to have five rooms."

"I can share with Darren," Harkat said, then grinned at me and said, "If that's okay with the Prince."

"Yeah!" I said, smiling back.

"Still, that is four rooms; not very...economic," Mr. Crepsley said slowly. Money was no object to Mr. Crepsley; the reason for his sudden desire to stay in a hotel was beginning to dawn on me, and it was making a very childish grin spread across my face.

"Well, I guess you could share with Vancha," I said, turning away so he wouldn't see me smirking.

"I could," he said coolly, "though I would feel a certain pressure to sleep on the ground, which I would rather not do if given the choice."

"Well, then, I'm sure you could squeeze in with me an Harkat," I said. I immensely enjoyed pushing the vampire's buttons.

"It would be very crowded," he said slowly. "And perhaps Arra would feel uncomfortable being by herself, what with the attacks in the city."

I finally turned to face him and began to roar with laughter. I couldn't imagine many Vampires or Vampaneze (let alone humans!) that Arra couldn't handle with one arm tied behind her back, and Mr. Crepsley knew that as well as anyone. He managed to keep a solemn look on his face, though his ears had turned red.

"Nice try," I said, still cackling with laughter, "You had me fooled there for about thirty seconds."

"I have no idea what you are implying," he said dryly, the red flooding into his cheeks. "Just because Arra and I may share a room, it does not mean we will act like anything but friends."

I raised my eyebrows at him, "Yeah, right."

"Remember, Darren, that most Vampires, myself and Arra included, were brought up in a different century than you, where morals were taught and respected very differently than they are today. We are no longer mates, and it would be inappropriate to even consider acting as such."

I would have chided him more, but I could see that Harkat was beginning to feel uncomfortable, so instead I shrugged. "I don't know why you and Arra didn't just mate for life," I said. "You both still love each other."

"It is not your place to discuss my relationship with Arra," Mr. Crepsley said, though his tone was strained.

"But why did you two go your separate ways?" I asked.

"That is not a question one asks, least of all to their mentor," he snapped, looking away from me.

"Okay," I said, raising my hands to show that he didn't need to be so defensive. "Like I said, I just don't know why you two didn't mate for life."

There was quiet for a second, then Mr. Crepsley, who was staring down at his feet, muttered under his breath, "That was the plan."

Any remains of a smile slid off my face as I exchanged looks with Harkat. "What?" I asked softly. "Then why didn't you? What happened? Who – ?"

"Darren, it is not the time for this conversation," he said, and I had never seen his face look so pained. I immediately regretted teasing him. "Maybe someday, but not now."

I nodded, feeling terrible. There was an awkward silence in which Mr. Crepsley looked glumly at the ground and Harkat and I stared at him. Finally, to break the silence, Harkat jumped to his feet and announced that he was going to look for food, and I volunteered to go with him. I followed Harkat out from under the tree, glancing back at Mr. Crepsley, wondering if he wanted to tell me what had happened without Harkat present, and if I should stay to talk to him. I decided to leave him alone with his thoughts.

Harkat and I didn't talk about Mr. Crepsley or Arra while we hunted for food. Instead, we talked about who – or what – was wreaking havoc on the nearby city. We had decided early this night to leave as soon as we were sure it wasn't related to Vampires or Vampaneze, but the way the murders had been committed sounded a lot like a Vampaneze to me; all the seven bodies had been drained of blood. What was a little strange was that all the bodies had been left out in the open, and it was very unlike Vampaneze to be so careless. Still, the drained blood made me think it was a mad, or very young Vampaneze, and not a human. When I voiced this opinion, Vancha explained that often Vampire hunters will find people who are dying, or already dead, and drain them of blood and set them in the open to attract Vampires they were looking to hunt down and kill. I asked if it would be safe for us to go to the city if there were such serious Vampire hunters, but Vancha only laughed.

"Facing three of the best fighters the Vampire clan has ever seen?" he had chuckled, gesturing to himself, Arra, and Mr. Crepsley. "The humans wouldn't stand a chance!"

I wasn't so sure, but I didn't tell him that!

We didn't know how we were going to find whoever it was doing the killings. The murderer, or murderers, seemed to be emulating Jack the Ripper; all the victims were young women, many of whom worked on the streets or in shady clubs. We were assuming it was a man, which just about narrowed down the suspects to half the city!

"Darren!" Harkat said, shaking my shoulder, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I jumped. "What?" I asked, surprised to see such an urgent look on his face.

"Didn't you hear him?" Harkat asked.

I looked blankly at him. "Hear who?" I asked; it was unusual for Harkat to hear something I couldn't.

"Mr. Crepsley," Harkat said. "He's been calling us for...at least twenty seconds. I can't believe you...couldn't hear him. Listen, there he is again."

I could hear him now that I was listening. He must not have been talking very loudly, because it was barely a whisper in the wind calling, "Darren, come back!"

"That's weird," I said. "It must be urgent. Come on."

We abandon our search for food and jogged back to the tree. When we got there, Mr. Crepsley, Vancha, and Arra were all there, on their feet talking hurriedly to each other while pointing towards the city.

"What is it?" I asked, coming up beside Mr. Crepsley.

"They spotted the murderers," he said seriously.

"You did?" I asked, looking incredulously from Arra to Vancha. "Well...that's good, isn't it? Did you kill them?"

They shook their heads.

"Well, were they Vampaneze?" I asked.

"That is what is odd about it," Mr. Crepsley said. "There appeared to be...how many did you say?"

"Seven Vampaneze," Arra said.

"Seven Vampaneze, and one human," Mr. Crepsley said.

"A human?" I repeated, furrowing my brow. "Why do you think it was a human, and not just a young Vampaneze?"

"Because the human was a woman," Vancha said, "and the Vampaneze have refused to blood a women for centuries."

"Why?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Several reasons," Vancha said, "the most prudent being that they don't think they're worthy or able enough."

"That's stupid," I muttered, looking at Arra, who, despite her small stature, was probably stronger than me and Harkat combined. She gave me a half-smile and nodded her head in agreement.

"Whatever the case," Vancha continued, "the chances of them having blooded a women are almost none, which means that the said woman was either helping them – also highly unlikely – or their next victim."

"But she seemed to be willingly with them," Arra pointed out. "She certainly wasn't struggling."

"What were they doing?" Harkat asked, speaking for the first time since we'd returned to the tree; sometimes he felt uncomfortable participating in Vampire conversations.

"They were in an alleyway, and they seemed to be looking at a map, as though they were plotting," Vancha said. "We considered attacking, but we were greatly outnumbered, and they were armed. For all we know, the female could have had an automatic weapon."

A sudden wave of horror passed over me as I thought more about it. "You don't think any of them could be the Vampaneze Lord, do you?"

"That is what we were discussing when you and Harkat arrived," Mr. Crepsley said. "We doubt it; the idea of them flaunting their Lord so early on does not make sense. I do not agree with the Vampaneze's ways, but they are no fools."

"Still, we feel a certain commitment to at least try to drive them out of the city," Vancha said. "Arra and I talked it over on our way back here, and we think it would be a good idea to stay in the city. The hotel we were in while trying to feed is one of many, and I don't think we would particularly stand out among the other clientele."

I didn't want to be the one to break it to him, but though Mr. Crepsley, Arra, and I could pass as humans, he and Harkat looked like something straight out of a horror movie – and a low-budget, corny one at that!

I glanced sideways at Mr. Crepsley, who took Vancha's idea in his stride and said, "A very good idea, Sire. Should we move there tonight?"

"Yes, I think so," Vancha said. "Get a day's rest, then out to stop the Vampaneze after sundown."

-----

We didn't waste any time. Harkat and I jumped on Vancha and Mr. Crepsley's backs and we flitted into the city. Once we got to the hotel, we decided that Mr. Crepsley and I would go in, while Vancha, Arra, and Harkat did a quick check of the area to be sure the Vampaneze weren't too nearby. Mr. Crepsley handed me money (he wasn't as quick with it as I was), then lingered back while I went to the check-in desk.

I could tell by the way the women looked at the wad of cash in my hand that they didn't get many guests who paid with paper money.

"Are you over eighteen?" she asked skeptically.

I shook my head, "No, but my dad's right over there," I pointed to Mr. Crepsley, and motioned for him to come over with me.

She shrugged, and said, "Okay. How many nights?"

"Umm," I said, looking at Mr. Crepsley. I wasn't sure how long we would be here – it had taken so long to track Murlough, but there were more of us now.

"A week," Mr. Crepsley said confidently.

"A week," the woman repeated as she typed it into the computer. "One room?"

I glanced sideways at Mr. Crepsley and said, "Three rooms."

I saw the corners of his mouth twitch up into a smile.

"Three?" the woman repeated, looking up. "For two of you?"

"My mom's outside," I said quickly, realizing how odd it must have looked for a father and son to get three rooms.

"And you all want separate rooms?" the woman asked, frowning suspiciously.

"Yes please," I said, smiling as though it was perfectly normal. "We have enough money."

She looked from me to Mr. Crepsley for a while, her brow furrowed. Finally, her eyes fell on the money in my hands and she sighed. "All right then," she said. "Three rooms for a week. Can I have a name?"

"Vur Horston," Mr. Crepsley said; at least that much we were prepared for!

The women was still looking strangely at us as she handed us our keys. We weren't sure how long she continued staring after us as we started down the hall to the stairwell. Once we reached our rooms (they were all near each other), Mr. Crepsley peered out the window and motioned for Vancha, Arra, and Harkat to come up.

"Arra, we told them that you and I are Darren's parents, so you can use the front door," Mr. Crepsley said after they had all climbed through the window. "Vancha, Harkat, you two will need to stay out of sight as they do not know that you are staying here. You will need to use the windows. Darren, I trust that you can take Harkat on your back through the window to your room?"

"Yeah," I said sleepily, and though all the curtains in the room were drawn, I could see that the sun was beginning to come up.

"Let's not waste time, then," Vancha said. "Let's rest up, tomorrow night we're hunting Vampaneze."

Harkat and I left to go to our room immediately. As my head hit the pillow, I wondered fleetingly who Mr. Crepsley would be sharing a room with, but soon that, and all other thoughts, left my head to be replaced by nothing but a long, solid, and comfortable sleep.

-----

The next night, all of the full vampires chose a set area of the city to stake out. Harkat and I would be split up, in case it became necessary to flit. For the first night, Harkat was going with Arra, and I would be with Mr. Crepsley. We were the nearest to the area where the Vampaneze and their human companion had been spotted yesterday, and were going to be watching the very street they were on.

We set out just after sunset, and the city was still bustling. Vancha and Harkat went out the window, and Mr. Crepsley, Arra, and I went through the lobby, stopping every now and then to glance at some of the other guests, just in case the Vampaneze had somehow found out we were here and had come looking for us. We didn't see anyone suspicious, but the same lady at the desk from last night gave us all a long stare down.

"You know what I just remembered?" I told Arra, beginning to laugh as we stepped out into the brisk and busy streets. "We told the lady at the front desk that you were my mother, and you were outside, but she never saw you come in last night. Now she sees you coming out, she must be really confused!"

I expected Arra to laugh, but instead she stopped and turned around to face the door, peering at the woman through the glass, frowning. "That's certainly enough to make her suspicious," she said, looking quickly away as the woman's eyes passed over us. "Let's keep tabs on her, make sure she doesn't give us any trouble, okay?" I nodded. "And tell Larten and Vancha so they can be careful."

I nodded – I didn't see how the woman could cause any trouble, but I wasn't going to take any chances.

Very little was said after that; we wanted to make the most of our time in the city. After a quick, final overview of where we'd all be and what time we'd meet back at the hotel, we wished each other luck. Vancha disappeared into the shadows of the many alleyways, Arra took Harkat on her back and started up to the roof tops, and with a quick nod at each other, Mr. Crepsley and I started down the street to begin the hunt.

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Thanks for reading!

And what's that you say? You all love cliff hangers and want more? I'll be sure to have (at least) one in coming chapters ;)!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter 1

**A/N: **I'm so glad that you're enjoying this! Thanks again so much for the reviews, and I hope you like this chapter too!

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We had been searching the city for three nights and had seen neither hide nor hair of the Vampaneze or their female companion. Harkat and Vancha had discovered another body on the second day of hunting. This one had been buried deep underground in the outskirts of the city, not out in the open like the others. It was sheer luck that they found it; Harkat had noticed that there was a very oddly compacted patch of dirt in a park, and he and Vancha decided to dig and see what they could find. Like the other victims, the young woman had been drained of blood. They put her body near the road so the police could find her and notify her family.

That was the eighth victim. Because of the way it had been hidden, we assumed that it meant the Vampaneze knew we were nearby and wanted to avoid leaving traces of themselves. We were hoping that it would drive them out of the city soon, but we wanted to stay for a couple more days before declaring the area safe and leaving.

At the moment, I was sitting on top of an unusually tall building and it was beginning to snow. The wind was icy, and every gust made me shiver. I had crawled under a vent, which was providing very little, but welcomed non-the-less, shelter from the cutting air. "This is r...r...ridiculous," I said, hugging my knees to my chest and turning my back to the wind.

"What is?" Vancha asked. He was perched on the edge of the building, looking intently down at the street below. He hadn't moved in over two hours...if he hadn't occasionally given a sigh (or a burp; Vancha wasn't the politest of the Vampires I'd met) I would have thought he was frozen there.

"This is. We're n...n....not going to s...s...s...see the Vam..p...p...aneze, even i...i...if they are s...s...still here," I said miserably, my teeth chattering together.

"Maybe not, but by the luck of the Vampires we will, and even if we can't stop them, we could figure out why they're traveling with a human at the very least," he said, keeping his gaze trained on the street below.

"If the bloody l...l...luck on the V...v...vampires was with us it wouldn't be sn...n..nowing," I grumbled, but he was right. We were all curious about why they were traveling with a human woman. We had all but ruled out the idea that she was a future victim; both Vancha and Arra were certain that the woman's body we'd discovered yesterday was not the same woman they had seen when they first glimpsed the murderers several days ago. If they were going to kill her, they would have done it pretty quickly, and they certainly wouldn't have chosen another victim first.

I got to my feet and crept to the edge of the building. Sitting next to Vancha, I looked down and sighed, shivering. He looked sideways at me, then gave me a slap on the shoulder. "Toughen up, Darren," he said. "I flitted all around Antarctica once and didn't complained one bit."

"Why did y...y...you flit around Antarctica?" I stuttered.

He laughed, "There was a particularly pretty young Vampiress I wanted a word with, and I believed she was there."

"Why'd you think t...that?"

"She told me...apparently she thought it was the only place I wouldn't go to to find her," he laughed.

I sighed and shook my head. "What happened?"

He chuckled, "I caught up with her eventually. Apparently she wasn't interested."

"No, really?" I said sarcastically, and he shoved me jokingly on the shoulder.

I was about to ask him more about the Vampiress; Arra was the only one I had met, though I had seen four over the course of my stay at Vampire Mountain, and wanted to know more about them, but before I could say anything, a distant church bell began to toll. One, two, three, four, five. It was five in the morning. Every night, we returned to the hotel around five thirty, then Mr. Crepsley, Arra, or I would go down to the small restaurant inside the hotel and bring up dinner (to us, to the humans in the hotel, it was the beginning of the breakfast serving), and we would talk about what we had (or hadn't) found during the night. Vancha wouldn't eat the hotel food, so he would always make a stop on the way back to get something for himself... last night I wasn't exactly sure what he was eating, but the stench made me realize that I didn't want to ask! After we'd eaten, we would take a warm shower, and then turn in for the day.

I stood up and stretched, waiting for Vancha to do the same. When he remained seated I asked, "Didn't you hear the bell?" He nodded. "Then we should head back."

"The hotel isn't far from here, Darren," he said, shaking his head. "It won't take us more than ten minutes to walk back. Let's give it another few minutes here."

My shoulders drooped. I was cold, tired, and hungry, and was looking forward to being back in our hotel. Vancha glanced up at me and smiled. "Why don't you start back, and I'll be there soon."

"Thanks," I said, returning the smile.

"And watch out, Larten will be furious if I bring you back in pieces," he called after me as I sized up the jump from this building top to the next. "If you think the Vampaneze are near, come back and get me."

"Yep," I said absentmindedly, and pushed off with my legs into a long dive.

I landed cleanly on my feet on the next building top and began to jog, keeping my head down to make sure there was no ice that I could slip on.

By the time Vancha and the building we had been staking out was out of sight, I had warmed up considerably and was feeling much better overall. About three quarters of the way back to the hotel, it suddenly struck me that I hadn't fed for a while. I hesitated; I didn't often feed by myself, but I didn't think anything would go wrong.

There were some small houses down the street, and I made for them. When I got down to street level and peered in one of the windows, I was in luck – there was a man sleeping soundly, his TV, snoring on his couch.

The lock on the window was old and gave in without a struggle. I slid into the room and crept over to the man. I didn't take too much blood – I was always fearful that I would over drink – and there was no problem getting out of the house.

I sighed contentedly as I shut the window behind me. I was humming slightly as I started back to the hotel again, and was just about to beginning climbing up to my room when a sudden scent caught by nose. It was sickly familiar and made my stomach churn. It was the smell of a Vampaneze.

I should have turned back for Vancha, but having drunk blood so recently, I felt strong, as if I could take on the world...I would just try to find the Vampaneze, then I would go for Vancha.

I followed the scent down the street. It was becoming very strong, and the Vampaneze weren't in sight; there must have been several of them. Suddenly, I could hear hushed voices coming from around a corner of a low building. I silently crept to the wall, dug my nails in, and started to climb. If I could catch a glimpse of them from the rooftop, they would be less apt to see me. When I got to the top, I crept on hands-and-knees to the edge. I could hear them clearly now.

"...that place down the street," a gruff voice was saying. "Won't be too hard, we'll just hide out 'round the back, and when a couple of 'em start to leave, we go after 'em."

"We've gotta give it a couple of days," a slower, smoother, more authoritative voice cut in. This voice sounded very vaguely familiar. "We can't be too anxious; I told you, I have a feeling someone's been watching us."

"That's ridiculous," another voice said, and this one was a woman's. I crawled closer to the edge, eager to hear what she had to say. "We haven't seen anyone following us, and I'm starving."

So she was a Vampaneze. What had caused them to reconsider and blood a woman? It was good to know that they weren't yet sure that we were in the city.

"Take it easy, Chira," the slightly familiar-sounding Vampaneze told her. "We need to be careful, or we'll begin raising the suspicion of..."

"Look," Chira interrupted him. Her voice was shrill and cutting, and her tone was one of power. "You uphold you ends of the bargain, I'll uphold mine. Do you understand, Gannen?"

I wracked my brains, but I didn't know, and hadn't heard of, anyone named Gannen. I heard someone shift on their feet, then Gannen answered, his voice strained, "Yes."

"Good," Chira replied. "If we know where we're going tomorrow night, let's go back. The sun's almost up, and the others are waiting."

Others...that meant they weren't all there. If there weren't many of them (after all, I had only heard three speak), maybe I could kill some of them, right here, right now. I began to crawl closer to the edge, right until my fingertips were dangling over the roof. If there were more than four, I'd turn back, but any less than that...

They were leaving the cramped alleyway as I peered over the ledge. There were six them. I didn't know which ones I had heard speak except of course the only female. Chira was leading the way; she clearly was a very new Vampaneze. Her hair was a bright blonde, and her skin didn't even have purple tinge to it. She was tall, as tall as some of the men, and walked with a definite pride and confidence.

They weren't suspecting me, all of them were completely unaware that I was sitting on the roof, watching them as they filed out of the alley. If I dove down now, I would have a decent advantage. It would be a very courageous thing to do. I was a Vampire Prince after all, and it was time to start acting like one.

I focused on the biggest threats to begin with; two men in the back, both with buldging muscles and large swords. I shuffled my feet to the edge of the roof, tensed my muscles, and prepared for the leap into battle.

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As always, comments and reviews are appreciated!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N: **I hope you all enjoyed your holidays (I know, they aren't really over yet, but whatever :P). Thanks yet again for all the lovely reviews; I meant to get this chapter up sooner but I was pretty busy seeing family, doing last-minute shopping, and eating a ton of holiday foods ;). I hope you enjoy Chapter 7!

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I was an inch off the roof when a set of hands grabbed me from behind and pulled me back. I cursed quietly, still aware of the Vampaneze bellow, and stumbled backwards, landing hard on my tailbone. Lights popped in front of my eyes as I fell farther back and my head banged against the roof.

"What were you thinking?" a voice hissed in my ear as I was lifted off the ground and onto someone's back. I guessed from the long dark hair now immersing my face that it was Arra.

Before I could answer, she took off across the roof, crossing all the way until she got to the other side, then began climbing down to the street. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she started to run, and by the time she reached the main street that the Vampaneze had been walking down, she was flitting, going too fast for them to see her as she sped back to the hotel. It took her less than a minute in total to reach the hotel, climb the wall all the way to her room, and dump me into a chair.

"Well?" she asked, sitting on the bed across from me with her arms crossed, fire in her eyes.

"I...I..." I began, reaching up and rubbing the lump now forming at the back of my head.

"They could have seen you!" she snapped. "Did you think you could fight them yourself?"

"I..." I repeated, unable to justify my actions as I began to realize how ludicrous it seemed now for a half-Vampire to even think about taking on more that two full Vampaneze. I took a deep breath and tried to explain, "At first I just wanted to listen, to see if I could find anything out, and I was going to go back for Vancha, but then..."

"Where _was_ Vancha?" she demanded. Her tone reminded me very much of how my mom used to castigate me after I had been caught riding my bike without a helmet, or watching a movie I wasn't supposed to be watching, and then would ask if it had all been Steve's idea.

"He was still staking out a building down the road," I told her, and her eyebrows raised. "I was cold, so he told me I could come back to the hotel. I stopped to feed, then I smelled the Vampaneze, and then..." my voice trailed off and I shrugged, "you know the rest."

Arra gave me a long stare-down for a minute, her grey eyes boring holes in mine until I looked down at my feet. She shook her head, then stood up and walked over to me. She knelt down beside my chair and put a hand on my shoulder, sighing.

"Did you think it was safe for you to go back alone?" she asked, her voice softer and warmer than before. "I thought we agreed that you and Harkat should always be with me, Larten, or Vancha?"

"I know," I said gloomily. "But I was so cold, and Vancha said..."

"Darren," she said, and her tone was serious. "It wasn't safe for you to go back alone. You wouldn't have been able to fight the Vampaneze by yourself if you stumbled across them, which you did. I'm just glad I saw you and they didn't. Half-Vampires are not as strong as full Vampires or Vampaneze; they can't act the same way, or they'll get themselves killed!"

"I know," I said defensively, "but when I saw them, I guess I kind of forgot and..."

"Exactly!" she said, standing up suddenly, her voice rising again. "Everyone's bound to forget when they're only a half-Vampire in the heat of a hunt or a battle. It's up to full Vampires to remind them, to watch out for them."

She was pacing around the room now, and I was shocked to see that her hands were shaking as she raised them to push her hair back. She spun suddenly around to face the window, and seconds later, Mr. Crepsley appeared. He slid the window open and stepped into the room, looking from me to Arra, his eyebrows raised.

"Arra, Darren, what is wrong?" he asked, but Arra shook her head, continuing to pace.

"Vancha," she said, her voice shaking, "I need to talk to Vancha."

"What happened?" he persisted, putting a hand on her shoulder, but she pushed him away and walked to the window, peering out and muttering under her breath.

Mr. Crepsley looked at me questioningly. "I was surprised that you were not in your room when I let Harkat in," he said, and I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. He frowned as he looked around the room. "And I thought you were going to be with Vancha this night, Darren, not Arra"

"I was," I said, glancing again at Arra, who still had her forehead pressed against the window. "I headed back to the hotel by myself, and –."

"Came across the Vampaneze," Arra muttered, not moving.

Mr. Crepsley's eyes widened. "Did they see you? What happened?"

I contemplated telling him the whole story, but I had a feeling Arra would fill him in later. "No," I said. "But I did overhear them, and I learned some things about..."

"Can it wait till later?" Arra asked, turning away from the window. "I just saw Vancha go in his window, and I need a word with him."

"Yeah...sure," I shrugged, in no rush to be reprimanded again by Mr. Crepsley.

Arra walked to the door, opened it, and exited the room, heading down the hall to where Vancha was staying. Mr. Crepsley shut the door behind her, then sat down facing from me, his brow furrowed.

"What happened, Darren?" he asked solemnly.

I started from the beginning, when I left Vancha, and told him the whole story, right up until several minutes ago when he had arrived. He sat silently, nodding his head while I explained. When I finished, he sighed and stroked his scar thoughtfully.

"First, it was a very bad idea for you to get so close to the Vampaneze alone," he said slowly. He gave a half smile, "Though, I am sure Arra made you aware of that particular error."

"Yeah," I said, smiling tightly.

"It was a good thing she was there to stop you, or you would probably be dead," he continued, and I nodded.

"I know," I said glumly. "But why is she so mad? I thought she thinks that children don't deserve any special breaks, and they should act like other Vampires. That's what she told me when we fought on the bars anyway."

"That is true, she does not believe in babying children if they have been blooded," he said. "But there are two differences between what she said on that occasion and the situation we are in now. First, and quite obviously, her intentions on the bars was to beat you, not kill you. I also believe, though I am not at all undermining you pain or suffering in the following days, that she did not fight you as she would a full Vampire. Whether she will admit it or not, she would not willingly harm any Vampire, especially not one as young as you are.

"The second difference here is that her main concern was that you, as a half-Vampire, were left alone in a city that is, at the present, very dangerous. Half-Vampires have died because they and their colleagues forget that they do not posses the same strength or powers a full Vampire possesses. So the issue here is not that you are a child, but that you are a half-Vampire."

"But I've never seen her get so upset about anything," I said. "Why was she so worried about it? And why was she so set on talking to Vancha?"

He stroked his scar again, and I could see that he was uncomfortable. "As the senior Vampire, he should have had better judgment than to allow you to leave by yourself. Ordinarily, one wouldn't consider confronting a Prince, but as we are all on this quest together, and Vancha has never been one for pulling rank, I assume that Arra wishes to make sure that his judgment never falters again when it comes to your safety."

"But why was she so upset?" I pressed on determinedly.

Mr. Crepsley sighed, "Arra was once a half-Vampire herself, and unfortunately she, and her mentor, Arrow, lost sight of that in the chaos of a threat to their lives."

"What happened?" I asked in a hushed voice, but he only shook his head.

"Perhaps hearing it would make you more aware of the danger, but it is not my story to tell," he said. "And it is not a story with a happy ending."

He stood up and massaged his temples wearily. Stepping around me, he reached up to shut the curtain of the room to block out the sun as it began to appear on the skyline. "I am going to speak with Arra and Vancha. Would you please go get us all dinner? Let us not forget that while we have had a scare, we have more information on the Vampaneze than before, and we must discus it to determine our next move."

I nodded and got to my feet. He led the way out of the room, and I followed along behind him. In the doorway, he turned around and cracked a half-smile. "What you did tonight was reckless and dangerous, and though I will scold you for that, I will praise your courage and eagerness to help."

"Thanks," I said, grinning sheepishly.

"Though," he said, smiling wider, "do not tell Arra that I said that."

I grinned and we set off in opposite directions; I turned right to the stairs, and he went left towards Vancha's room.

-----

I made sure that the food was all secure in its containers, then stacked them into my arms and started back up to my room. I wondered if Harkat knew what had happened or if he was still wondering why I hadn't yet shown up. Quickening my pace, I made a mental note to apologize to the Little Person for any anxiety I may have caused.

I turned a corner and started walking past a slightly opened door, but stopped in my tracks when I heard voices from inside the room. A quick glance at a sign on the wall told me it was the staff room. The familiarity of the voice caught my ear, and I edged closer to hear what it was saying.

"...just weird," a female voice said. "I talked to Jill, and, you know, she works from six in the morning till three and she said she's never seen them go out during the day. And every night since they got here, they go out when it's pitch black out, and sometimes I don't even see them come back. I'm telling you, Ray, it's bizarre."

My breath caught in my throat as I realized that she was talking about us. Now I recognized the voice; it was the lady who worked behind the desk. After the first two nights we had stopped worrying about her, but now that I thought of it, we hadn't been careful enough to keep her from getting suspicious. I cursed us silently for it and shuffled closer to better hear what else she was going to say.

"Well, maybe they work a night shift at the hospital or something," a man's voice replied, sounding unconcerned. Then he sighed and said, "If anyone should know about night shifts, it's us. Stop worrying about them, will you?"

"But what about the boy, the son? He certainly isn't working a night shift, and he obviously isn't going to school. There's something not...right...about him. And that man and woman...I don't even think they ARE his parents; they don't look anything like him."

"Well, maybe he's adopted, or maybe he's a relative staying with them," the man replied impatiently. "And maybe he got out of school on winter break early and goes to friends' houses at night. Who knows? Who cares? Honestly, Melody, just forget about them. Does it really matter?"

"They always have their 'do not disturb' signs up," she hissed, irritated by his lack of concern. "And have you seen their scars? All of them, even the kid, look like they've been target practice for a drunken knife-thrower!"

I wondered if we really looked that beat up. I was so used to my friends and their appearance that I didn't think of us as being too noticeable anymore. Apparently I was wrong. Although, I thought with a silent laugh, if she thought I looked messed up, she would have passed out at the sight of Harkat!

"You always think people are up to something," her companion chuckled. "Just drop it."

"All right," she huffed. "I'll forget it for now, but if I see them doing anything odd, I'm not just gonna sit here and shut my mouth. What with all the murders, it would be good to have some arrests.

I heard shuffling as she got to her feet, and I quickly scurried off to the stairs – after hearing her concerns about us, I didn't think letting her catch me eavesdropping was going to help ease her mind!

When I reached my room a couple minutes later I was glad to see that Vancha, Arra, and Mr. Crepsley had finished whatever argument had been threatening to begin and were sitting with Harkat at the table. The Little Person's eyes lit up slightly as I entered and I gave him a smile before putting the food on the table and sitting down next to him.

I considered telling them about what I had overheard the hotel employees saying about us, but decided it would be best not to for the time being. After all, we had enough to worry about at the moment as it was.

Everyone listened intently as I recounted my story, analyzing everything the Vampaneze had said. I tried my best to remember all of what I had overheard...I couldn't remember their exact wording, and I couldn't recall the male Vampaneze's name, but I knew all of the important points. We were glad that they weren't sure about us being in the city yet, but the fact that they had blooded a woman not only confused but worried us.

"Maybe she's the Lord of the...Vampaneze?" Harkat suggested, stuffing a burnt pancake in his mouth.

"And maybe that's why she said something about some bargain?" I added, nodding in agreement with Harkat.

Vancha frowned, "I thought you said Desmond Tiny mentioned that the Vampaneze Lord was a man?"

"He did refer to the Vampaneze Lord as 'he' and 'him', however he never specifically stated that it would be a male, and he may have been intentionally leading us in the wrong direction," Mr. Crepsley said, tilting his head as he considered Harkat's idea. "Though, I doubt that she or any member of that group is the Lord of the Vampaneze. I already said that I find it highly unlikely that they would be so careless with their lord as to remain in one city, massacring the citizens. They would know that they are bound to draw attention to themselves that way."

"I agree that it's improbable, but why else would they blood a woman?" Arra asked, scratching thoughtfully at a scar on her wrist. She hadn't touched her meal, and by the way her utensils were laying on the table, she didn't intend to.

"That brings us back to the question we've been asking every night," Vancha said, snapping a bone off of the God-knows-what he was eating and picking his teeth.

What was good was that we had an approximate area of the next attack; the Vampaneze had referred to a place "down the street". That wasn't particularly precise, but coupled with the fact that the victims usually worked in shady pubs or the like, it could help us narrow down the places to stake out, at least for the next night or two.

We sat in silence for several minutes once we had exhausted the subject, looking blankly at the table, or at the closed curtain, which was glowing slightly as the sun rose behind it. Finally, Vancha got to his feet and announced that he was turning in for the day, and Mr. Crepsley and Arra followed suit.

After we had each showered, Harkat and I climbed wearily into our beds, yawning. I hadn't gotten to see much of the Little Person lately; the only time I ever got to talk alone with him was at dawn after the Vampires had all gone to sleep. Even though we could have stayed up during the daylight, we were always too tired to spend more than five or ten minutes talking.

I told him about what I had overheard the hotel employees saying and asked if he thought I should tell the Vampires.

"I don't think she's going to do...anything," he said after considering it for a minute. "I don't think you need to...worry them with that. They all seemed very...on-edge earlier. Best not to make... it worse."

"You're probably right," I agreed. "But I'm going to watch her. If she thinks we're the murderers, there's no telling what she might do."

"Maybe you should wake up a little... during the day and go out.... just so she can see you?" he suggested.

"Yeah, I'll do that," I said, nodding, even though he couldn't see me in the darkness of our room.

"And remember to come back in through the lobby," he added quickly.

We laughed, and then, as our eyes began to slide shut, wished each other a good day and dozed off to a much-needed sleep.

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Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Let me know what you all think :)! Thanks for reading, and happy New Year to all!!!!!!!!!!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **See chapter one

**A/N: **Happy 2010 all; here's hoping it'll be a great year!!! Thanks for the reviews, there were quite a few for the last chapter! Please continue :-)!

Well, here's chapter 8, hope you like it!

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Mr. Crepsley and I wandered down the dark, damp street. It was raining the type of rain that didn't quite come down in drops, but rather hung in the air, sticking to your face and hair; the type that left you chilled and wet.

We had agreed last night that, starting from the point where I had seen the Vampaneze, we would all branch out in different directions and try to cover every street within five miles. Mr. Crepsley and I were taking the streets to the north and northwest, and had already been down three streets with absolutely nothing to show for it. The city seemed to be asleep. Not one business we had passed was open, and the streets were deserted. We couldn't see, hear, or smell the Vampaneze anywhere.

"Do you think..." I began to say.

"Shhh!" Mr. Crepsley silenced me hurriedly. He moved closer and said in a barely audible whisper, "Just as easily as you heard the Vampaneze last night, they could hear us now."

I nodded and looked around, paranoid. The street lamps were covered with snow from last night's storm, which left them looking like glowing, golden orbs perched on tall, thin pedestals. They cast the shadows of me and Mr. Crepsley (and any other object) against the walls of the many run-down buildings we were passing. It turned them into distorted and creepy figures. I wondered if any of the shadows were of Vampaneze lurking on nearby rooftops, watching us, waiting...

Mr. Crepsley extended a hand to stop me, and he tapped his ear, narrowing his eyes. I held my breath and listened. Straining my ears, I heard a steady, electronic-sounding beat coming from ahead of us.

"What is that awful racket?" Mr. Crepsley hissed, making a face.

"It's music!" I said, half-excitedly...it had been a long time since I had heard music.

"That is not like any music I have ever heard," he said skeptically.

"Well, what else could it be?" I laughed.

He shrugged in agreement and motioned for me to follow him. As the music began to grow louder, I could make out a static-y women singer's voice singing along to the techno-pop background.

"What the hell is this ridiculous garbage?" he spat disgustedly.

"It's dance music," I said, then paused and frowned. "When was the last time you heard music?"

He waved me off with his hand, "I told you, Darren, Vampires do not bother to measure things as mundane as years."

"Estimate."

He thought for a minute, then sighed and said, "I rarely had the opportunity to listen to music as a human; I believe it was three times in my human life in which I did. Being poor, I was not often given the chance. Of course, there were no radios or records, or whatever it is that you use today. We listened to it as the gifted artists performed it live. Since I was blooded, I have only..."

When I cleared my throat impatiently, he stopped talking and gave an irritated sniff. "I would _estimate_..." he said 'estimate' with scorn; he didn't like being imprecise "...that it has been well over two-hundred years."

I grinned, "Well, music's changed a little bit."

As Vampires, our hearing was considerably better than humans, and so as we neared the source of the music, the volume became nearly unbearable. I ripped off part of my shirt's sleeve and stuffed the pieces into my ears, which didn't make a huge difference, but it took the edge off non-the-less. When we finally arrived at the small, patched together building that the music was coming from, Mr. Crepsley turned to me and said, "This is the first place we have passed all night that is open for business. Perhaps we should go inside and see if anything, or anyone, seems out of place."

A quick glance at the cheap sign over the door told me that we were standing in front of "Jon's Glitter Girls". In case that alone didn't give the nature of the place away, the orange letters beneath it reading "Adults-Only Nightclub" certainly did. I looked at Mr. Crepsley, who was standing with his hand on the doorknob, an unfazed look on his face.

"Didn't you see the sign?" I asked, blushing.

"I looked at the sign as we neared the building, yes," he nodded.

"And...you still want to go in?"

"Yes," he said, nodding, sounding unconcerned.

I shrugged, "Okay." After all, many victims had worked in places like this...it wasn't unlikely that this could have been the place the Vampaneze had talked about.

Mr. Crepsley swung the door open and I followed him inside. The music was even louder in here, and we both had to put our hands over our ears for a second to adjust. We were in a narrow hallway, and at the other end was a wooden door that looked as though it could have been made of construction paper. Above it was a sign, restating what had been said outside: "ADULTS ONLY". There was a folding table directly in front of the flimsy door, and a thin, platinum-haired man clad in all black sat on a chair on the opposite side from us. His dark sunglasses masked his eyes, making me uneasy even though he was clearly not a Vampaneze.

He lifted a slim finger and pointed to me, "18 and over only."

"I'm over 18," I told him, and he cocked his head doubtfully. It was true, I was technically an adult...it wasn't my fault that I looked barely 14.

"I am his father," Mr. Crepsley said confidently.

The man shook his head, "Adults only."

Mr. Crepsley looked warily at the man for a moment before reaching into his cape and drawing out a reasonably large sum of money. The man straightened up in his chair a little and extended his hand. Mr. Crepsley passed the wad to him with a tight smile, and the man reached into his coat and pulled out a clip full of money; I had a feeling we weren't the first customers to offer him a bribe tonight. "You're 18, you said?" he asked, looking at me, and I smiled and nodded. Once he had his money safely back into his coat, he waved a hand at the door, motioning for us to go through. Mr. Crepsley gave him a nod and stepped around the table, opening the door and proceeding into the next room. I followed after him, plugging my ears from the booming music as I stepped through the door.

The room itself was very dark, but colored lights were flashing everywhere, momentarily blinding me as soon as I stepped in. I groaned and shielded my eyes, but before I was able to lower my hand, Mr. Crepsley had doubled back, grabbing my elbow and pulling me into the restroom to our right.

"Darren, you cannot go back in there," he said, half choking on his words.

"What? Why? We just paid the guy like a hundred..."

"Darren," he said seriously, and I noticed that his face was a deep shade of red. "This is not a place appropriate for a child. Those women...they do not...they are not..." he leaned down towards my ear and lowered his voice, "They are not wearing any clothing."

"Well, duh," I said, rolling my eyes. "What'd you think 'Adults Only' meant? I thought you said you read the sign?"

He diverted his eyes to the floor and said stiffly, "I said that I looked at the sign."

"What do you mean 'looked at'?"

"I..." he began uncomfortably, "I cannot read."

I gaped at him for a moment. "What?"

"I never learned how to," he said. "It was not particularly important when I was a child, and neither of my parents knew how to read or write."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, wracking my brains, sure that somewhere in our time together I had seen him read or write.

"Most Vampires cannot," he shrugged, "It did not seem particularly unusual to me, and therefore I never though to mention it."

"Wow," I said, staring off into space, wondering how different life would be if I didn't know how to read. I looked at Mr. Crepsley, unsure of what to say. "Do you want me to teach you?"

He smiled, "At the present, not especially." He looked around the bathroom for a moment, then sighed and jerked his head towards the door. "I think that you should wait in here," he said. "I will come back to get you once I have looked around. The man was right, this is no place for a child."

"Oh, come on," I said, rolling my eyes. "What's the big deal? We can look around in here for a few minutes to make sure there's nothing suspicious, then we'll go outside to see if there are Vampaneze lurking around out there."

He looked unsure, but nodded. "If that is what you would prefer," he said, and he opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom. I trailed after him, squinting as pink flashing lights blinded me yet again.

Once my eyes had adjusted, Mr. Crepsley and I split up to cover more ground. The nightclub was very small – it had only the bathroom we had just been in and one large, open room, with tables crowed around a dance-floor and bar in the back right corner – so it wouldn't take us long to check every occupant for the Vampaneze's trademark scars indicating that they would be the next victim. We would of course also make sure that there weren't any Vampaneze stationed in here, but we doubted there would be.

I tried my very hardest to look only at people's faces for the mark of the Vampaneze. It was challenging, because almost everyone, save a couple performers (and I avoided looking at them too closely!), was taller than me, and I had to squint in the dim lighting to look for the scars on their faces. I narrowly missed being trampled by a couple of drunken customers, and a couple times found myself getting knocked accidentally onto the dance-floor by a crowd of overzealous men.

After several minutes, I was fairly sure that no one had been marked by the Vampaneze. I stood on tiptoe for a moment and gave the place a final once-over, looking for Mr. Crepsley.

"Excuse me?" a high voice said behind me, making me jump. I turned to see who had spoken...it was one of the performers. My eyes bugged out of my head and I quickly turned away from her, unsure of where to look.

"Are you an adult?" she asked, her arms folded.

"Um...yes...no...I mean...well..." I stammered, shuffling away from her.

"I spent a night in jail last week," she said angrily. "Know why? 'Cause a little kid walked in here and wanted..."

I mercifully stopped listening to what she was saying after she reached up to push a lock of blonde hair out of her face. Across her cheek, barely visible to a human eye, were three red scratches. I stared at the marks on her face, wondering if I should tell her that she needed to leave, to get out of the city and go as far away as she could.

"Darren?"

I sighed with relief at the sound of Mr. Crepsley's voice behind me. I turned to see him standing several feet away, and I suspected by the way his eyebrows were raised that he also saw the scratches.

"Pardon us, please," he coughed uncomfortably to the woman in front of me... the Vampaneze's next victim.

We hurried out of the main room and back into the men's room. A couple guys were in there, and so we waited till they left to begin talking.

"Did you see them?" I asked frantically, pointing to my cheek.

"Yes," he nodded. "She was not the only one. Another woman here has been marked. The scratches are fresh, however, and so I believe that the Vampaneze will not attack till tomorrow night at the earliest."

"What should we do?" I quietly asked.

"We will go find Arra, Vancha, and Harkat," he said. "Two of the full Vampires should stay here tonight just in case the Vampaneze attack earlier than I suspect they will. As for tomorrow night, we will see what happens, but I think it would be wise for Arra, Vancha, and I to all come here."

"What about me and Harkat?" I said. "There are a lot of Vampaneze. If you're going to fight them, we should help."

"We hopefully will not have to fight them," he explained. "If we can scare them into showing us where their hide-out is, we will be able to prepare an attack and catch them off guard. In any case, even if it became necessary to fight them while trying to spare these two lives, the chances of them sending more than three or four of themselves is slim, and so we should be able to handle them.

"Let us go find the others. Even though I doubt the Vampaneze would attack tonight, I am uneasy thinking that they," he jerked his thumb out towards the main room, "are being left unguarded."

I nodded in agreement, and then we left the nightclub. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man behind the folding table in the front hall look at us curiously as we left – I guess most of the customers stayed for more than ten minutes.

As we walked away from the club, we were alert and aware, scanning over the building tops with our eyes and peering down every alleyway. Every sound make us snap our heads around and hold our breath.

The further away we got, the less jumpy we became, and finally I was relaxed enough to look over at Mr. Crepsley. We hadn't spoken much to each other since we left, just in case anyone was listening. I noticed a slightly faraway look in his eyes as we hurried down the deserted street.

"What?" I asked him, and his head slowly turned to look at me, his eyes still somewhat unfocussed. He considered me for a second before shaking his head and waving me off with his hand.

"What?" I repeated. It took me a second to notice the pinkish tinge to his ears for the umpteenth time tonight. "Oh," I said, rolling my eyes. "Dirty old man."

"Huh?" he asked. I raised my eyebrows; 'Huh' was a very un-Mr. Crepsley-ish thing to say. He stared at me for a minute, then shook his head, as if trying to clear it. "Oh," he said, his face returning to normal. "It is just that..." His voice trailed off and he shook his head for a third time, indicating that he didn't want to continue. "No. You do not care."

"Yes I do," I insisted. "What are you thinking about?"

"Well..." he said, shifting uncomfortably. "Seeing those...human women...tonight...it..." he took a deep breath and then sighed. I was staring intently at him, wondering what he was about to say. "It rather gives you a perspective on how beautiful Arra is, does it not?"

I blinked. I wasn't sure what I had expected him to say, but it certainly was not that. I hadn't looked at the women in the nightclub very well, but in all honesty, it had been nice to see human women again after so long with a bunch of old Vampires. It was true that Arra was by far much better looking than any Vampires I had met, and probably me too, but it wasn't as though she was _that _pretty. Despite her reputation as one of the toughest Vampires, her face had very minimal scarring, which definitely helped. Her dark hair _was_ a very nice contrast to her pale skin, and her deep, grey eyes often turned into other complimentary shades depending on what color she was wearing, but something about her seemed...weathered. But as I thought it over, it was because she was smarter, braver, stronger than any of the women we had just seen. In my time at Vampire Mountain, I had learned that these were the things that made a beautiful person.

I smiled at Mr. Crepsley as he looked expectantly at me, waiting anxiously for my answer, as if he were a little child looking for approval.

"Yes," I said, and his face relaxed, "It really does."

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Any feedback, good or bad, is appreciated :). Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N: **All right, well, I'm tired of sounding like a broken record, but once again thanks for reading and _especially _big thanks if you review!! Enjoy chapter 9... :)

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It didn't take us long to track down Arra, Vancha, and Harkat. None of them had seen the Vampaneze or any traces of them, which made watching the nightclub simpler, for now at any rate. It was decided that Arra and Vancha would go until sunrise tonight, and Mr. Crepsley and Vancha would go the following night. Mr. Crepsley and Vancha seemed to feel that all three of the full Vampires should go, but Arra insisted that not only would that give the Vampaneze more chance to spot us before we spotted them, but also that it would leave me and Harkat alone at the hotel. Neither Mr. Crepsley nor Vancha seemed willing to stay behind, and so Arra agreed to.

Since we wouldn't be going out either tonight or tomorrow night, Harkat and I decided to turn in early, so I could make an appearance in the hotel during the day. I wasn't quite sure exactly what I was going to do, but it would have to be something non-suspicious, non-noticeable, and normal for a teenaged boy. Maybe I could go sit in the lobby and watch TV.

-----

It was nice to be awake during the daylight. The first thing I did was check my appearance in the hotel mirror, and I was glad I did; if I had walked in public in my current state, I would have made the hotel employees shriek! First I tackled my hair, wetting it and combing it flat. Next, and to no avail, I splashed some water into my bloodshot eyes to try to make them look less puffy and tired. I couldn't do anything about how pale I was, but that didn't stop me from pinching my cheeks Grandma-style a couple times to try. I looked down at my clothes; they were black and dusty, and were wrinkled in some places from being slept in. I had a change of normal clothes in a drawer that I had been saving for a special occasion. It depressed me that walking into a hotel lobby was a special occasion.

When I walked out of the bathroom, Harkat grinned and gave me a thumbs-up.

"You look like something...from a cheesy horror movie," he said, showing me his jagged teeth in a wide smile.

"Ha-ha," I said sarcastically, giving him a shove on the shoulder as I passed by.

"No, it's a compliment," he said, grinning wider yet. "You went into the bathroom looking...authentically scary, like from a high-budget...movie with lots of make up and...special effects. Now you just look like hell."

"Thanks a lot, Mr. Stitches," I snapped, and he laughed.

"You don't look that bad," he shook his head, giving me an apologetic nudge.

I smiled to show I forgave him, then pulled on a pair of jeans and a new sweatshirt.

"I'll be back soon," I told him as I headed for the door. "It won't take long, I just need to convince the staff that we're just normal people, not anything scary like Werewolves, or worse yet, those nasty Vampires."

Before I got in the elevator to go downstairs, I went to press my ear against Vancha's door to make sure he had returned from last night's stake-out. As I got closer to his room, I chuckled. Even without my enhanced Vampire senses I would have been able to hear his snoring. I pitied the guests on either side of him.

I didn't bother stopping by Mr. Crepsley and Arra's room to make sure she had returned, because Mr. Crepsley surely would have freaked out and woken us all up if she hadn't come back to the hotel this morning.

The hotel lobby was chaotic to say the very least. Part of me was disappointed; I'd have to spend a little more time there to catch the attention of the employees, but part of me was excited to be around people again. I hadn't been around so many humans since Mr. Crepsley, Harkat, and I left the Cirque Du Freak what seemed like years ago. I sat down on a couch and just watched them go about their business. It was funny how stressed they all seemed...in comparison to what I did every night, they had very peaceful lives.

Every now and then, I shot a glance up that front desk. The usual lady we saw at night wasn't there, but I bet the woman there now was the one who reported that we never go out during the day. At the moment she was busy, but I made a mental note to go make myself noticed when then counter cleared.

Something I also noticed was the calendar. Today was December the 27th. It was the first time that Christmas had passed me totally unnoticed, and I was surprised to find that it didn't bother me very much. I wondered if that was a good thing. It made me feel more mature, more like Mr. Crepsley or Vancha, or any of the other full Vampires I knew. But that also meant that I felt less human. I had to think for a minute about how I felt about that. After a few moments thought, I decided upset me as much as it used to. I felt a strange sense on pride at being a Vampire. In times like this, hiding out in the city, hunting Vampaneze by night, I was helping to save humans' lives...I was kind of a hero! Granted, I wasn't getting any recognition – if I told anyone that I was a Vampire, they would have come at me with stakes, pitchforks, and garlic, which weren't a danger, but were fairly annoying. Still, it gave me a silly sense of importance.

The lobby was beginning to clear; it was eight thirty in the morning, and the guests that had been crowding around the front desk seemed to have departed. I slowly got to my feet and casually walked to the counter, planning to wing a normal conversation.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked, not pulling her eyes away from the computer.

"Yes, please," I said. She looked up, and I was sure I saw a muscle in her temple twitch as she recognized who I was. I hadn't seen her before, but I would bet anything that a fairly accurate description of my appearance had spread around the hotel. "I'm looking for..." I quickly tried to think of something normal people would want that could lead me into explaining why we were out at night. Suddenly, the idea came to me. "...soap. Do you have any?"

"Yes, I've got some back here," she said slowly. "But housekeeping brings new soap every day."

"Right," I said, smiling; she was stepping right into my plan. "But, see, my parents work at night...all night long in fact, and so they sleep during the day – all day. So, you see, housekeeping never has a chance to come in."

"Well, I'd be happy to give you some soap for now," she said, and she had the same smile on her face that I had worn seconds ago, "but in the future, I can arrange for housekeeping to come at night while your parents are out."

"Ummm," I said, feigning thoughtfulness; having anyone in our rooms, e_specially _while we were out hunting Vampaneze, was out of the question. "No, that's okay."

"It's not a problem," she said, still smiling.

"No, really," I said. "My dad, he's very particular, he doesn't like anyone touching his stuff." When she looked at me skeptically, I felt the need to elaborate, and so I added weakly, "Like 'Monk'."

"Really?" she said dryly. We looked at each other for a second, then she shrugged and reached under the counter.

"Well, then, here you go," she said, dropping three bottles of soap in my hand. "Come back if you need more."

"Thanks," I said, and quickly left the front desk. At least now she knew we used soap, that must make us seem a little more normal.

-----

That night, I awoke to the sound of someone shuffling around our room. My heart jumped into my mouth. Did the hotel send someone to investigate, or did the Vampaneze find out where we were staying? I didn't want to move, or give any indication I was awake; maybe I could take the intruder by surprise if I jumped up suddenly to attack, or, in the case of a hotel employee, scare them away. I wondered if Harkat was also awake, wondering the same thing.

I slowly tensed my muscles – even if it was an employee, I had to assume for the worst, and that meant attacking for a Vampaneze. I waited until I felt a slight tremor at the very edge of my bed – the intruder had bumped it – and then summoned all the strength in my legs and pounced.

About halfway through the air, I realized what an idiot I was. As I flew towards Arra with my arms outstretched like a lunatic, she gave a very momentary look of surprise, then stepped deftly out of the way, grabbing my upper arm at the last second to stop me from crashing though the television.

Arra gave a wry smile as she helped me regain my balance and asked dryly, "Oh, did I wake you?"

"Ha-freakin'-ha," I snapped, brushing myself off, and looking over to see Harkat, still in bed, clutching his sides laughing. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"I apologize," she said, smiling and patting me on the shoulder. "Though, next time you think about attacking a Vampaneze, make sure you don't almost kill yourself in the process. And that they aren't your friends."

"What are you doing anyway?" I asked, irritably rubbing my head, still groggy.

She shrugged. "The reason I stayed behind was to watch out for you and Harkat, and I can do that better if we're in the same room. So I let myself in a couple hours ago when Larten and Vancha left, and I was just getting up to look out the window when you decided to give me such a warm welcome."

"How'd you get in?"

She looked down at her fingernails and wiggled her pointer finger. "A trick I learned from Larten."

I sighed and sat back on my bed, glaring at Harkat, who was still doubled over. "Stuff it," I barked, and he started to choke back his laughter.

I hadn't seen Arra since she left to watch the nightclub last night, and I asked her how it went. She told me that there had been no sign of the Vampaneze, and that she and Vancha had followed each of the marked women home, and there had been no trouble.

"Which means that the Vampaneze will most likely attack tonight," she said. "Hopefully Larten and Vancha will be able to follow them to their base, and we can rid the city of the scum before daybreak tomorrow."

"Will Darren and I... help if and when we...attack them?" Harkat asked, sliding off of his bed and coming over to us.

"Well, the decision is more yours than ours," she said. "But you two are capable, and Darren is one of the hunters for the Vampaneze Lord, so I don't see why not."

"I'd like to help," I said.

"Me too," Harkat added.

She nodded and smiled, "I have respect for both of you. I didn't doubt that you would."

"And when we've finished here... we head for Lady Evanna's?" Harkat asked.

"Yes," she agreed, yawning.

"Tired?" I asked.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," she said, massaging her neck sleepily. "And I needed to be up at sundown to..."

There was loud knock on the door, causing all three of us to jump. Arra whipped her head around, then slowly and silently walked to the door. Before she reached it, Mr. Crepsley's voice called, "Darren? Arra?"

She hurried forward the last couple steps and swung the door open, then gasped.

"What is it?" Harkat and I asked, jumping to our feet and running to join her at the door.

"It is nothing, really," Mr. Crepsley said, and as I peered over Arra's shoulder I clapped a hand to my mouth. Mr. Crepsley's left arm, all the way up to his elbow, was drenched with blood.

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Okay, so this chapter had been much longer because I was going to have it be joined with what is now going to be chapter 10, but I decided it was a little too long, _and _I know how much you all adore cliffhangers, so I just couldn't resist splitting it here ;). Please review with comments, tips, feedback, anything...thanks!!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N: **Whew, ten chapters!!! Thanks SO much to everyone who's read all the way to here, I hope you're enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it :)! Okay then, here goes chapter ten...!

* * *

"What happened?" Arra asked, regaining her composure and beckoning him in. She shut the door quickly as Mr. Crepsley went into the bathroom and began washing his arm off.

"There were two Vampaneze," he explained, somewhat breathlessly, pushing the sleeve of his shirt up and putting soap on his skin. He grimaced, then continued. "They were on opposite ends of the building, so Vancha and I split up to watch them. Unfortunately, the one I was watching spotted me. I was able to kill him before he alerted his comrade, but he sliced my arm. It is not so bad."

Now that he had washed the blood away, I could see that he was right and I relaxed a little. It was a short, jagged slice near his elbow, and though it was too large to be healed by spit, some stitches in it would do the job.

"Arra," he said, wincing as he washed his wound out with soap, "you will have to go back with Vancha and tell him that I killed one of the Vampaneze. We will have to act soon; they are bound to notice that one of their own is missing."

"Right," she said, then glanced down at his arm and furrowed her brow. "I'll stitch your arm up first."

He nodded and looked to me. "Darren, can you go and find some thread and a needle?"

"Yeah," I said, and began to leave the room immediately, not wanting him to lose any more blood than he already had.

I jogged down the hall as fast as I could. It was only a matter of time before the Vampaneze realized what was going on and either left the city or came after us. In both cases, whether we had to defend ourselves or chase them down, it would behoove us if Mr. Crepsley wasn't injured. I wasn't sure where I was going to get a needle and thread, but I had a feeling they would have some down in the laundry rooms. I didn't know where those were, but I would find them.

After ten minutes of searching, I found them in the back right wing of the first floor. A light was on – I guess they worked in there around the clock – and as I neared the door, I could hear voices from inside. I would have to be fast, there was no telling when an employee would catch me and throw me out.

I slunk in the door and moved away from the voices. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but the tones sounded somewhat panicky and urgent. That was good; it meant they were likely to keep talking amongst themselves and not wander over to where I was.

I finally found a large cabinet pressed against the wall and hurriedly began looking through it. As I tore apart some of the drawers, I knew I was definitely the right area; I was starting to find buttons and pins. Drawer after drawer I emptied and sifted through, but the luck of the Vampires was not with me. Finally, I came to the last drawer, and wouldn't you know that there they were, hundreds of spools of thread, and tens of needles stuffed into pin cushions. I took a whole pin cushion and three spools just to be safe and tucked them into the pocket of my sweatshirt. Not bothering to clean up the mess, I headed back towards the hall, only to have to stop suddenly and duck behind a washing machine as I heard footsteps coming towards me.

"Yes, yes, that's the street, just hurry!" a hysterical female voice was saying. "Ugh! How many times am I going to have to repeat this before you send people down? Yes, it was one of the hotel guests. He's always been odd, but there was definitely blood all over him tonight, and he was coming in the back door."

My eyes widened and my breath caught in my throat. It hadn't occurred to me before that anyone could have seen Mr. Crepsley on his way in. An optimistic part of me wanted to believe that maybe it wasn't Mr. Crepsley she was talking about, but the realistic part of me realized how stupid that was.

"No, he didn't see me!" she continued, and I had to slink around to the other side of the machine so she wouldn't see me as I turned the corner. "Do you think I'd be here if he did? Yes...yes...YES! Now will you please send the police down and HURRY!?"

That was all I needed to hear. Tonight, the Vampaneze weren't the only things we had to fear. I sprinted out of the laundry room, not caring if anyone saw me. I wasn't sure how I remembered the way back to my room, but I did. I banged on the door, and when Harkat opened it I dove in, shutting it quickly behind me, panting.

"Darren, what took so l–" Arra began, but I cut her off.

"We need to go!" I wheezed in between breaths. "Someone saw you come in," I pointed to Mr. Crepsley, who groaned and rubbed his forehead miserably. "They called the police, they could be up here any minute."

"Charna's guts!" Arra swore, kicking the wall, and Harkat too cursed under his breath. Arra rushed to the window and looked down, then turned to look at Mr. Crepsley. "We need to leave," she bitterly. "We won't have time to stitch that now."

"It is all right," he said. He had a towel pressed against the wound, and it seemed to be stopping most of the blood. "I will not be able to climb up or down walls, but I can still flit."

She nodded, then turned to me, "Darren, take Harkat down to the street."

I nodded and wasted no time. I sat on the window sill and let Harkat climb onto my back.

"Wait for us," Mr. Crepsley called after us as I lowered myself out the window. "And hide."

I carefully dug my nails into the side of the building and scaled down. Harkat was heavier than me, and I had to press my body tight to the wall to not let his weight pull me off. I was sure that Arra, just several feet above me with Mr. Crepsley on her back, was having the same problem. A couple times I nearly lost my grip. One hand would slip, but I was always able to dig my nails in just in the niche of time to keep us from taking the deathly fall onto the pavement below.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of tense climbing (but was in reality probably two minutes), I reached the ground. I hopped off and Harkat slid off my back.

"Back there," he said, pointing to a shadowy alleyway, and we quickly scurried down it. Arra and Mr. Crepsley landed several seconds later and hurried to join us.

"Someone still has to...warn Vancha," said Harkat. "If they have the police out...looking for us, they could...run into him."

"Vancha will be okay for now," Arra said. "Let's get away from the hotel first. Larten, are you sure you can flit?"

"Yes," he said simply, though I could see him grimace slightly as he pressed the towel more firmly against his wound.

"Take Darren, he's lighter," she said, motioning for Harkat to come over to her.

I felt bad as I climbed onto Mr. Crepsley's back; I could hear him groan as my feet left the ground.

"Are you all right?" I whispered in his ear, wondering if he didn't want to admit how much pain the injury was causing him in front of Arra. He just nodded.

"Follow me," Arra said. "We don't need to go far."

It took Mr. Crepsley a little longer than usual to work up to flitting speed. Up ahead of us, Arra kept glancing over her shoulder to see if we were keeping up. Finally, the city started to buzz past us. It was less than twenty seconds later that Mr. Crepsley came to a halt behind an unfamiliar fountain on an unfamiliar street.

"Where are we?" I asked, quickly jumping off of his back.

"I do not know," he said, turning to Arra with a questioning look on his face.

"I was here last night," she said. "There are no street lights, no houses, and no police nearby. We should be safe here, at least for a little while." She turned to me, "Do you have the needle and thread?"

"Yeah," I said, digging into my sweatshirt pocket. I held them out to her, but she shook her head.

"You should do it," she said, and I could see Mr. Crepsley's face lose a bit of color. "I have to go get Vancha. We need to figure out what we're doing next soon, and he has to be part of it."

"I don't know, I've never stitched a wound before," I said tentatively, glancing at Mr. Crepsley. "I've never sewn anything. Ever. Like, not even a button."

She looked at me warily. "There's a first time for everything," she said finally.

"It would be better," Mr. Crepsley agreed miserably. "We must also remember that Vancha may need help, and it would be discourteous to leave him unaided for any longer than absolutely necessary."

"It's your arm," I shrugged.

Arra nodded. "I'll return with Vancha as soon as possible. Don't leave unless you have to."

"Be careful, Arra," Mr. Crepsley said softly, watching nervously as she secured a knife in her belt.

She smiled and tossed Harkat a knife. "You be careful," she replied. _I _have two good arms." She winked, then knelt down to kiss Mr. Crepsley on the cheek. He smiled sheepishly, and I suppressed a giggle.

"Luck, Arra," Harkat and I said in unison.

"Luck," she replied, and without another word, she turned and began running down the street. She reached flitting speed almost instantly – as she was smaller and lighter than other Vampires, it was easier for her – and disappeared into the darkness.

Mr. Crepsley watched the spot she had vanished from for several seconds, his brow furrowed.

"You are concerned about... her safety," Harkat commented, and Mr. Crepsley nodded. "If it puts your...heart at ease, Vanez told me before we...left the mountain that, prior to Kurda...defeating her at the Festival of the Undead...and Vancha twelve years before that,....she hasn't lost a fight in thirty-six years."

"Thirty-eight," Mr. Creplsey corrected. "The day I left the mountain thirty-eight years ago, she began to fight with a strength and a fury unmatched by anyone opposing her."

The was an awkward silence in which he stared wistfully down the road after Arra, and Harkat and I exchanged uncomfortable glances, once again wondering what had happened. Finally, to break the silence, Harkat added with a jagged smile, "He also told me that before then...she could knock you unconscious ninety-nine...out of a hundred time."

"I...I..." Mr. Crepsley blubbered, straightening up and glaring at me and Harkat, who were both grinning. "I would not hurt her..." Then he smiled at our humorously skeptical faces, "And I could not if I wanted to. Oh, stop snickering."

Harkat and I gave him a final triumphant grin, then I took out the thread.

"Perhaps it would be better if I try to sew the wound myself," he said, eying my nervously as I dropped the needle and then, upon picking it up, poked a hole in my finger. "In fact, I am positive it would be better."

I shrugged, "If you want to ." I wasn't especially keen on stitching up the Vampire's arm anyway.

I threaded the needle for him. When I was done, he took it from me with his right hand and carefully removed the towel from his forearm. As soon as he did, blood started to leak down onto his knee. He sighed, examined the needle for a second, then jabbed it fearlessly into his skin.

"Ugh!" I cried, wincing.

He gave me a half-smile, not looking up from his stitching. "I have done this many times before. If you should ever stitch yourself up, I suggest you do it quickly. The first time I did, I foolishly kept pausing in between stitches, and finally I lost so much blood that I passed out. Luckily, Seba found me in time to finish what I had started. Of course, I was criticized for acting so childishly, but it was a valuable lesson."

"Lose hair from your ears for that one?" I quipped, and he threatened my left eye with the needle.

I looked down and realized that the wound was already half-stitched. It was very crudely done, and would probably leave yet another scar, but I figured his arm would be healed and fully functional within the next three days.

When he was finished, he wiped the needle on his other sleeve then handed it to me.

"Hold on to that," he said. "And try not to impale yourself. If we should need to stitch a wound later on, we will be thankful to have a slim, metal needle."

"What else would we use?" Harkat asked.

Mr. Crepsley gave him a wry smile, "An animal bone. Usually a rib."

"Yuck!" I spat. "They aren't very thin...or sharp."

"No," he agreed, chuckling and lifting his shirt to reveal a gruesome scar across his stomach, "they are not."

I made a face and turned away from him, staring up and down the street. I found a dry patch on the road and sat, resting my back against a trashcan. We sat in silence for several minutes, looking around, twitching at every sound. Even with my strong eyes, it was hard to see very far. The moon was covered by thick, dark clouds, letting through no light. It made me uneasy to think that someone, or something, could be lurking nearby, undetected, ready to attack.

"I wonder what's taking them...so long?" Harkat wondered aloud several minutes later. "It must have been...half an hour ago that Arra...left to find Vancha."

No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than, seemingly out of nowhere, Vancha and Arra appeared in front of us, both breathless.

"We need to leave the city," Arra said, a venomous look in her eyes.

"What is it? What happened?" I asked, leaping to my feet.

"We don't have time to explain," she said bitterly, motioning for me to get on her back. As I jumped on, I looked quizzically at Vancha. Though his face was turned down, I could see that there was something wrong. He had a dead, lost look in his eyes, with no remnants of the usual shine and liveliness.

For the next several seconds before we left, I continued staring at him. His shoulders drooped, and he seemed almost to have gotten smaller, if not in physical size in essence. When he looked briefly up, as Harkat climbed onto his back, our eyes met, and when he saw the questioning in my eyes, he shook his head sadly and turned away.

I had no idea how far we flitted, but when we finally stopped, we were in a large, open field and the sun was threatening to appear along the horizon. I slid off Arra's back and squinted around till I spotted Mr. Crepsley, on the other side of the field, and Vancha and Harkat, several yards behind us.

"So?" I said, tapping Arra on the shoulder. "What happened?"

Her jaw was set, her dark eyebrows scrunched in towards the bridge of her nose; even when Kurda had defeated her on the bars, she hadn't looked so angry.

"He let him get away," she said furiously, turning on her heel to face Vancha as he and Harkat came towards us.

"Let who get away?" Harkat asked, and I saw Vancha twitch uncomfortably under Arra's menacing stare.

"A Vampaneze!" she said, her voice shaking. "We were ten feet from him...you could have killed him! But you stopped; why did you stop?!"

"I couldn't kill him," said Vancha, and his voice was small and unrecognizable.

"Damn it, Vancha, then why didn't you let me?" she snapped, as Mr. Crepsley came up behind her. "You grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go till he disappeared!"

"I couldn't," he said simply, turning away and starting to walk dismally across the field, his head hung.

"Why the hell not?" she bellowed. "He SAW us Vancha! If he hadn't, we could have stayed in the city, but he looked right at us! Now they've won, they chased us out, and they'll stay in the city, killing without restraint!"

Vancha stopped walking and stood perfectly still, his back to us, illuminated momentarily by the moon as it escaped cloud cover. For a moment I feared that he was going to fall over, as he wobbled on his feet. Then, heaving his shoulder's in a great sigh, he spun slowly to face us, his face pale and drawn.

"I couldn't kill him," he repeated, "and I couldn't let you. I..." his voice trailed off and he shook his head, looking up to the sky. "Gods of the Vampires, forgive me," he said softly. "I wish I could have, but something deep down wouldn't let me."

"Why not?" Mr. Crepsley asked softly, seeming to sense that this went deeper than a mistake or a moment of hesitation.

"Because," Vancha said, looking at Arra, whose face was less critical than before, "he was my brother."

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Please, please review with any comments, criticism, etc. :)


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **See Chapter 1

**A/N: **Wow has it been too long since I updated this! I apologize, and if you are still with me at this point, thank you so so so much!!! I promise that I'll try to never go so long without updating again. :)

All right, you've waited long enough for it, so I won't talk anymore. Here it is, Chapter 11!

* * *

Vancha stared at the ground while we gaped at him for several long, tense minutes. There were so many questions I had, but as they ran through my head, I couldn't seem to form the words to come out and ask him.

"How?" Harkat asked finally, using only one word, but summarizing everything I wanted to know with it.

"His name is Gannen Harst," Vancha said, and I felt my stomach sink a little, though I didn't interrupt. Now that he said it, I recognized the name Gannen; he was one of the Vampaneze I had overheard talking a couple nights ago. If I had remembered his name, I could have prevented all this.

"Harst?" Mr. Crepsley asked, frowning.

"My real last name," Vancha explained, heaving a sigh. "Gannen and I were the best of brothers growing up. We were only a couple years apart, and we did everything together. When we were young men, we became blooded as half-vampaneze."

Arra opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it. Vancha gave her a wary glance before continuing. "I decided after years of living uncomfortably as a vampaneze that I could no longer go on killing to feed," continued Vancha. "The punishment for an assistant who wanted to leave the clan was death. Gannen pleaded for my life, saying that he would die trying to prevent my mentor from killing me should it come to that. We finally reached the decision that my life would be spared, as long as I avoided all vampaneze in the future, including my own brother. We parted ways, and I hadn't seen him since." After another long, drawn-out sigh, he added hollowly, "Until tonight. I couldn't let him die. Not after he begged for my life. Would you not do the same?"

For several seconds, there was silence, then, one by one, Mr. Crepsley, Arra, Harkat, and I nodded our heads in agreement.

"Paris Skyle blooded me as a vampire several years later."

"How –?" I began, but Mr. Crepsley motioned for me to hold my question.

"We've kept it to the Princes ever since, because we of course feared that some vampires would turn against me if they knew. I changed my name to March just in case." He wearily massaging his temples with his fingertips. "That's all there is to tell, really. I never imagined that it would someday come to this. I cannot at this point accept that I may have to kill my own brother, but I won't stand in the way of any of you again. We came to this city to kill the vampaneze ravishing it, and I'll be damned if it's my fault that we leave before we can accomplish that." He turned away from us, shaking his head miserably. "I need to be alone for a bit," he said tonelessly, beginning to slump slowly off. "Perhaps I will head for Lady Evanna's. When I'm ready to travel together again, I will find you." He paused, then pulled himself up a little straighter. "I will understand if you decide to return to the city. I won't interfere."

And then he began to run, getting up to flitting speed in several seconds. I looked to Mr. Crepsley, who, like Harkat and Arra, was staring at the spot from which Vancha had disappeared. "Should we let him go by himself?" I asked quietly.

Arra sighed and raised a shoulder. "We can't stop him if he wants to be alone. He'll be okay." Then, after a moment, added, "Hopefully."

"He has had a shock," Mr. Crepsley said. "But Vancha was not elected a Prince for no reason; he is strong, and will soon realize that none of us will blame him for not killing his own brother. It is understandable." He slowly lowered himself down onto a rock. "The question now is whether or not we return to the city to finish what we started."

No one answered at first. Harkat and I exchanged glances; I didn't know what I wanted to do. On the one hand, I still despised the vampaneze for killing the humans mercilessly. The vampire blood pumping through my veins was telling me to go back and slaughter the monsters with equal disregard. By the same token, I felt like it would destroy Vancha if we killed his brother. It was one thing to kill a vampaneze (or a group of vampaneze) on the spot, but to go back and track them down with the intention of killing...it just didn't feel right.

"There's something not right about this whole thing," Arra said, being the first to speak. "Beyond the vampaneze being reckless, they seem to be acting under the leadership of one who doesn't share the morals of the vampaneze. To that end, I think we should return and kill them." Her voice was surprisingly confident.

"The vampaneze deserve... to die, but Vancha doesn't deserve... to lose his brother by the... hands of his friends," Harkat piped in, and I nodded slightly in agreement with him. "If we are...putting this to a vote..., mine is to leave now."

"We should finish what we started," Arra disagreed strongly. "They are running wild and will not stop, and they will eventually become intractable monsters."

"You don't have sympathy...for Vancha?" Harkat asked pointedly.

She looked up to meet Harkat's gaze, and I was shocked to see a harshness in her gray eyes. "Vancha will understand," she said coldly. When she noticed my raised eyebrows, she added, "I don't lack sympathy for him, but he said himself that we shouldn't be swayed by his relation to Gannen."

"Perhaps..." Mr. Crepsley began slowly, and we all turned to him, "perhaps we need to look at this from another angle. Yes, Gannen is Vancha's brother. And yes, the vampaneze have been ruthlessly murdering humans. But is it truly our place to interfere in this instance? Desmond Tiny instructed us to follow our hearts. Are our hearts telling us to go back and kill Gannen Harst and the rest of that group of vampaneze? In part, I feel that it is not our place to determine how much feeding is acceptable for them, but I also strongly feel that they have passed beyond what is normal. But has fate intentionally drawn us away because we are not meant to kill them?" He shook his head. "I do not know. Darren, how do you feel about this? If you are inclined one way or the other, it is you who shall make the final decision as a Prince."

"No," I said definitively, shaking my head. I saw Arra's jaw tighten from next to me, but she stayed silent. "I would never be able to look Vancha in the eye if we killed Gannen. If we're following our hearts, my heart says to move on."

There was a moment of silence in which Arra's hands clenched slightly, and I braced myself for an argument over my decision. After several seconds, her hands relaxed and she exhaled, the fire in her eyes dulling. "Then it's settled," she said, masked dissatisfaction in her voice. She turned away from us and looked out at the horizon. "If we are leaving, we should find shelter soon, the sun is becoming unbearably bright."

I had completely forgotten about that; the idea of anything as normal and simplistic as taking shelter and sleeping after all that had happened seemed almost unfathomable. None-the-less, another hour and Mr. Crepsley and Arra would start to roast, and so I followed Harkat's lead and climbed on Mr. Crepsley's back. I wondered if Vancha was going to take shelter, or if he was going to walk about in the daylight until he was forced to hide from it. I hoped he would at some point.

As Mr. Crepsley started to run, I glanced down and realized with a start that I had completely forgotten about his arm. I would have said something, but just as I was opening my mouth, he began to flit, and I had to seal my lips quickly for fear of having the air pushed back in my lungs.

We didn't flit for more than five minutes before we came to a stop near the base of a wooded mountainside. Once we located Arra and Harkat, we set about looking for a cave or the like where we could be safe from the sun's rays. It wasn't long till we discovered a small clearing surrounded by dense trees and thick bushes, a perfect place to take refuge. None of us felt like talking or eating, and so Harkat fell asleep almost immediately, Arra following soon after. I had my eyes squeezed shut, but try as I might, I couldn't sleep with so many thoughts and concerns racing through my head. I finally gave in and opened my eyes, sitting up. Mr. Crepsley had clearly not even made an attempt to sleep. He was sitting cross legged, his injured arm's hand resting on one knee, his eyes staring out into the forest.

"How's it feel?" I asked quietly, scooting over so I could talk softly and not wake the others.

"It has felt better, but it will be all right," he said, glancing down at his injury and shrugging.

I relaxed a little, leaning up against a rock. Then I asked the question that was making my head pound. "Did I make the right decision? Should we have gone back?"

He rested his head back against a tree trunk and sighed. "You are not a child, and I do not want to lie to you just to give you comfort, Darren," he said, and I nodded understandingly. "I truthfully do not know. If I had an idea one way or the other I would tell you."

I was glad he had given me an honest answer, though the fact that he didn't know if I was right or wrong almost made me feel worse. In my experience, Mr. Crepsley had an answer (whether I agreed with it or not) for pretty much everything. "Arra wanted to go back," I commented. "She thinks I made the wrong decision."

"She is entitled to her opinion," he shrugged.

"But why do you think she wanted to go back?"

He considered me for a second before answering, "I suppose she believed that was the right thing to do."

"Well, duh," I said, rolling my eyes, and he cracked a half-smile. "But why?"

"Arra shares her mentor's tolerance for vampaneze."

Arrow, her mentor, had lost his wife to the vampaneze many years before.

"Did she know his wife?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered slowly. Whenever he gave a less than thirty-word answer, it usually meant he was leaving something bigger out.

"Was she there when the vampaneze killed her?" I asked, moving in and talking in a still more hushed tone, hoping not to wake Arra and end what looked like a promising time to hear a story.

"I have told you before that I do not enjoy retelling stories that I was not fully present for, primarily when they do not have happy endings," he said, but it was only half-heartedly.

I looked up and peered through one of the very tiny cracks of light in the canopy above us. "We've got about ten hours till sundown," I said as though I hadn't heard him. "So if it's long, you should probably get started.

"Darren..."

"You need to tell me!" I cried, then lowered my voice again. I grinned devilishly. "Don't make me, as a Prince, command you to tell me."

"And do not make me, as your guardian, cuff you on the ear with my one good hand," he growled, but I could tell he wasn't really mad.

"Maybe it's important," I said, my face turning serious. "If Vancha had told us about his brother, we wouldn't be here right now."

He sighed and massaged his temples. "Very well," he said grudgingly, "but know that it is for the sake of our mission; otherwise, I would not be telling stories that are not mine to repeat. I will try to make this very long and dark story short."

I wasn't going to bet on that.

"Arra was blooded by Arrow when she was barely more than a girl," Mr. Crepsley began, leaning back and closing his eyes. "For years, they would go about his General duties together. After around a decade, Arrow got married and went to live in a human city with his wife. Arra, still being relatively young and a half-vampiress, went with them. After a few years, a group vampaneze killed a Vampire Prince named Umbri Savant, who was the mentor of Gavner, who was only a half-vampire himself at the time. Of course, Gavner wanted to locate Sire Savant's body, and so Seba, Vanez, and I, also a half-vampire, traveled with him."

"What does that have to do with Arra?"

"I am getting to that, it is rude to interrupt. This led us not far from where Arra, Arrow, and his wife, Elizabeth, resided, and when we discovered that the Prince had been murdered by a group of vampaneze, we alerted Arrow that they were nearby and asked him to help in killing them. Now, it is important that it remains clear that his wife insisted on staying in their home, refusing to leave, and so Arrow asked Arra to stay against her will with Elizabeth and keep her safe.

"Now, as I said, I will try to keep this short and will not bore you with every description, but after several hours, Elizabeth defied Arra's will and left the house. Arra eventually chased after her, but was cornered by vampaneze. It was a miracle that Arra was able to hold them off from killing her for as long as she did. We were lucky in that Gavner and I made it in time to save her, but the same could not be said for Elizabeth. Arra of course blamed herself; as she often says, if she had been able to kill the vampaneze, they would not have killed Elizabeth. However, she was a half-vampiress, facing three full vampaneze. It was incredible that she survived a situation she should not have been put in alone while she was still young and inexperienced."

"That's why she was so mad when Vancha left me alone," I said, my voice hushed as I imagined the horror that not only she, but Mr. Crepsley, Gavner, and Arrow went through.

Mr. Crepsley nodded sadly. "Yes. It is why she and Arrow are strongly opposed to any relations with the vampaneze whatsoever, and have no tolerance for their killings, and also why she had a very hard time relating to Kurda Smahlt from that point on."

"Was that the whole story?" I asked, not wanting to cut him off if there was more.

He thought for a second, then shook his head. "No, but that is all I wish to tell. I suggest you speak directly with Arra when you want to hear more."

I rested my forehead in my hand. "She was angry that I decided to move on. I don't think she'll want to talk to me."

He shook his head. "No," he said confidently. "She will not hold it against you that you have a different opinion. When she has a moment to think it over, if she has not already, she will understand that you do not hold the same bitterness and hatred for the vampaneze as she does."

I nodded - my head felt heavy; either exhaustion was finally starting to invade my body, or I had been through too much in one night to comprehend. "Maybe we should go back," I said wearily. "Maybe everyone - maybe even Vancha - would be happier."

"Would you be?" Mr. Crepsley asked.

I sighed and shook my head.

"Then we should not. I do not believe killing them would make Arra happy, no matter how much she may believe it will. Arrow has killed many vampaneze, yet he is no less haunted by the pain of his wife's death today than he was two centuries ago. Arra herself has been in many battles and defeated many, but the guilt, however unjust it may be, still remains with her.

"If that is not enough to convince you, do you truly think Vancha could ever fully be happy again if we killed his brother?"

"No," I said, shaking my head fervently. It was the first thing I was certain about all night. "I have...well, I had...a sister, and I couldn't live if I knew my friends had killed her, whatever life she had chosen to live."

He nodded. "As I said before, Desmond Tiny said to follow our hearts. If we returned now, Arra may have the momentary joy of revenge, but it would be replaced by an additional set of guilt once when we met up with Vancha. When you really think about it, no one's heart will rest easy if we go back now and kill Gannen and the rest of the vampaneze." He paused a second to let that sink in. "Now we should both try to sleep," he continued finally. "We have all had a very long night, and we have many similar ones ahead."

Hearing him confirm that my decision was at least not wrong gave me a small bit of comfort. I yawned, realizing how tired I really was now, and slid down so I could stretch out comfortably. Though the ground was cold, I didn't care. I could already feel my eyes sliding shut. "Good night, Mr. Creplsey," I murmured, but he didn't reply immediately.

"Darren?" he said after several seconds, and his voice sounded tight.

"Yeah?"

"Annie is still your sister," he said quietly, and I felt my stomach jolt at the sound of her name. I was surprised he remembered it - or that he even knew it in the first place. "I am sorry that you are not with her. I am sorry that you, through a cruel turn of destiny, have been sucked into the trek to kill the Vampaneze Lord."

"Thanks," I said, my voice constricted as I squeezed my eyes shut.

Looking back and wondering "what if..." or feeling sorry for myself were things I didn't waste a lot of time with. But as I tried to shut my mind to all I had been through the last few hours - learning about Vancha's brother; Mr. Crepsley's story about Arra, and Arrow's wife; leaving a city that we had more or less wasted a week in - all I could do was think of the past and, if on that fateful morning I hadn't stolen Madame Octa, what might have been.

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I know, this wasn't exactly the greatest or most exciting chapter, and there was kind of nothing new in it, but hey, an update's an update, right? I hope you all review (even if it's to tell me what a moron I am for taking so long and then posting this crap :P)! Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N: **So, I realized today that it's been exactly five months since I posted the first chapter of this (which was my first ever story posted here)! Wow, five months went by _fast_!

This chapter could have used a little more touching up than I gave it, but I really wanted to get it up exactly on the five-month anniversary, and so here it is! :)

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"Are you absolutely sure we're going the right way?"

It was the question Harkat, Arra, and I, to Mr. Crepsley's total frustration, had been asking constantly for the past three weeks. Mr. Crepsley and Arra were tired from flitting with me and Harkat on their backs for so long, and so for the past few days we had been walking. The terrain we were travelling on was rocky and difficult to navigate through, and none of us wanted to find out after weeks of trekking that Mr. Crepsley had mistakenly pointed us in the wrong direction to Lady Evanna's.

"I am positive," Mr. Crepsley said through gritted teeth. "I have made this journey numerous times, stop questioning my sense of direction."

"We aren't questioning your directions, we're questioning your memory," Arra said, flashing him a smile. More seriously, she added, "If I remember correctly, it's been several decades since you've been to see her."

"Actually," Mr. Crepsley corrected her, "it has not been long at all. The Cirque du Freak passed by here shortly before we found ourselves in Darren's hometown, and I stopped by her cave for a visit. I am surprised you never came to meet her, Arra. After all, her story is very unique. Many vampires take an interest in her."

"Male vampires take an interest in her, I see her as more of an..." she frowned as she searched for the right word, "equal, with benefits."

"What does that mean?" Harket asked.

"It is a very long and complicated story," Mr. Crepsley said, brushing him off. "It would be best to let her tell it."

I groaned. "What's with you not wanting to tell stories?" I asked irritably.

He sighed and scratched at the newly-forming scar on his arm. "Lady Evanna has some volatile tendencies. If I were to tell the story wrong, and she were to find out, there is no telling how she will react."

"Might turn him into a toad or something," Arra added casually, kicking a particularly jagged rock out of her way.

"Oh yeah," I said, remembering our conversation shortly after leaving the mountain. "She's a witch."

Mr. Crepsley grimaced. "I told you not to call her that," he said. "She possesses some magical abilities, as well as some abilities unique to herself. It is better to think of her as a sorceress."

"A sorceress, whatever," I said, brushing him off. "Is she evil?"

"She is not evil," he said, and I could tell he was choosing his words carefully. "She tends to stand in the middle of all; it is very hard to describe her."

"Can she see the future?" I asked. "Like, I mean, could she tell us what's going to happen with the Vampaneze Lord?"

"She can see events that will likely occur. Of course, nothing in life is entirely set in stone. She is able to predict things on her own, but rarely, if ever, shares them. Sharing them, as she says, would affect the future, which she cannot do."

"Why?" I asked.

He sighed and gave me a weary look. "Darren, I have told you that she is difficult to explain. Please wait until we have reached her cave and ask her your questions. It will not be long now."

"How far is her...cave from here?" Harkat asked.

"We should be there in less than two weeks," Mr. Crepsley answered.

Out of habit, we all glanced around. For the most part, we hadn't discussed it, but I knew we were all wondering when - or if - we'd meet up with Vancha. Every now and then during the past couple weeks, Mr. Crepsley or Arra would stop to examine a plant, or the ground, or a impression in the grass, but they would straighten up seconds later, shake their heads, and we would move along. I was starting to get worried. It wasn't that I was afraid he wasn't going to meet up with us in time to get to Lady Evanna's, but I was more worried that he had done something irrational. I didn't voice these fears to anyone but Harkat, who was equally concerned. But there was nothing we were able to do, and so we had no choice but to go about our way.

"Perhaps we should consider flitting again," Mr. Crepsley suggested. "At least to get out of this rock-infested hellhole."

"Fine by me," Arra shrugged.

As usual, I hopped onto her back, Harkat onto Mr. Crepsley's, and after a minute the cliff-sides and malnourished sparse trees were whirring past us, blurs as we sped forward. I slowly turned my head, careful not to lean too far or I would tip Arra back off her feet, something I was sure she wouldn't thank me for. I suspected that I had never seen the fullest extent of Arra's temper, and I wouldn't feel deprived if I never did till the day I died. I doubted she would get too mad at me, but I was careful that while I was on her back I didn't pull her hair or squeeze her neck too tightly.

After a while, our scenery had changed considerably. We were now speeding over rolling, vibrant green hills. It was hard to see what was up ahead while we were moving so quickly, but from what I could tell, we were in an open, grassy area that would make our travelling much smoother when it was time to return to walking.

Almost as soon as that thought passed through my head, Arra skidded to a very abrupt stop - so abrupt, in fact, that I fell straight off her back and clunked down hard on the ground.

"Ow!" I groaned, stumbling to my feet and rubbing my scraped elbow. "What'd you stop so fast for?"

"This seemed walkable," she said, and I noticed that she was considerably more winded than was usual for such a relatively short distance.

"All right," I said, shrugging. "But we could get to Lady Evanna's faster if we flit."

"You don't say," she grumbled sarcastically, clutching the stitch in her side. "It may not have occurred to you, but the vampaneze might have followed us, in which case it doesn't seem like the best idea to wear ourselves down to the point of exhaustion."

As she sat on a mossy rock, sighing wearily, I wondered if I was growing. But as I thought about it, I couldn't see how a couple weeks would make a difference, especially as a half-vampire.

"Don't you think if they'd followed us they would have attacked by now?" I asked, sitting next to her.

"They could be waiting for the right chance to attack," she said, giving a bitter cough.

My mind flashed to Mr. Crepsley's story and I wondered momentarily if I should ask Arra herself more about it. I didn't think she would mind that he had told me, I just wondered if she would explain it more than he did. As I turned towards her, I realized my mouth had been hanging stupidly open, and she already had a grim smile on her face.

"He left out several details," she said darkly, and my eyes popped out of my head.

"How did you do that?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Do what?"

"It's like...it's like..." I said, struggling for the word, "sometimes it's like you can read my mind."

She shook her head. "Not mind, eyes. It's impossible to read minds - for vampires at least - but anyone can read eyes. Especially a child's eyes." I looked at her skeptically, and she tilted her head to one side thoughtfully. "I overheard you and Larten that night while he was telling you the very abridged version of the whole story."

I shifted uncomfortably; that meant she had heard our conversation about both her and my sister afterwards too. I couldn't remember exactly what either of us had said - I hoped it was nothing she would hold against us.

"As you may have noticed, Larten has always had a problem with talking about others, even if it's only to tell a story. For the record, I agree that it might come in useful for you to hear my story. If he hadn't told you, I certainly would have soon enough. That being said, there are a couple things he left out that I think may be equally important to know. For example, he failed to mention that right after the ordeal, Desmond Tiny showed up."

"What?" I said incredulously, not believing that Mr. Crepsley had left out what seemed to me to be a fairly large detail.

She nodded. "It was the first time Larten and I had met him. He appeared out of the blue at Arrow's house fully aware of everything that had happened, at first seemingly just to congratulate me on being alive. When we asked how he could have possibly known, he didn't answer, of course, but said that he had been the one who told the vampaneze where to find us. I didn't know anything about him, and was horrified to find that he seemed to have looked into the future to tip the vampaneze off. Now that I've had several more encounters with him, I realize that's exactly what happened."

"Why?" I asked, mouth still open.

"I would guess purely for his entertainment," she said, and I could hear her struggling to keep emotion out of her voice. "He seemed absolutely delighted when he showed up." She drummed her fingers on the rock and shifted her gaze to the ground; I wondered how many people she had ever told this to. "You've seen his pocket watch, yes?" I nodded. "He had that way back then, too. As he was leaving, he gave it a squeeze and...it was as if..." she shook her head, sighing. "It was like he could control me. In the Hall of Princes a couple months ago, when he burst in during your hearing, the same thing happened. He reached into his pocket - I'd wager my best staff that that possessed watch was in it - and then he looked my way and I felt like he had some type of hold over me; something I couldn't escape from."

I remembered how her stomach had begun to bleed when he entered and shuddered to think that Mr. Tiny could have caused it. "I feel the same way sometimes," I said slowly. "But I thought it was just because I was afraid of him. I never really thought that he could have some other form of control over us."

She nodded. "I don't know." She stared off into the night sky, and when she spoke again, her voice was low, "Evil things happen in the hands of Destiny."

That sentence rung in my head like a struck gong. We sat in silence, mulling over Destiny and his fickle friend fate. I had always felt like he and his watch had a certain pull on my life, like I was a puppet, and with a wave of his hand, he could make me do anything or go anywhere he wanted. A pounding deep in my chest told me that with a single toss, he could decide to dispose of me completely, and Darren Shan would no longer have a part in the twisted tragedy he called life.

Arra and I didn't speak again until Mr. Crepsley and Harkat appeared out of the darkness, jogging towards us over a rolling hill.

"When did you stop?" Mr. Crepsley asked, panting slightly. I wondered how far they had gone before realizing we weren't behind them.

"Maybe twenty minutes ago," Arra shrugged. "We can walk on the grass easily, there's no need to tire ourself out if we don't have to." I wondered if she had privately confided her concerns to Mr. Crepsley, or if she had kept them to herself, not wanted to worry him or Harkat.

"That is true," Mr. Crepsley nodded. "Though Lady Evanna does not like to be kept waiting unnecessarily."

"But she doesn't even...know that we're coming," Harkat commented. Mr. Crepsley scratched at his scar thoughtfully. "I would assume that she suspected we would be heading her way several decades ago."

"But then, wouldn't she know that we're not going to flit the whole way?" Arra asked.

Before Mr. Crepsley could answer, I piped in, "No, because then wouldn't she know that we were having this conversation and might decide to flit instead because of it?"

"But we might not," Harkat pointed out.

"But we might," I added.

"Wouldn't she know either way?" Arra wondered aloud.

"But she..." Harkat started. He frowned and thought hard for several seconds. "She would know...no, wait...she..." He groaned. "This is confusing. I...lost my train of...thought."

We turned to Mr. Crepsley, who was massaging his forehead, staring at us all with a look of weary frustration. "It is very complicated and maddening to try and figure out what the Lady Evanna knows, predicts, and suspects," he said. "It is better to put it out of your mind, rather in the same way we do not bother to disagree about what comes after the universe ends."

And so we left the subject there, mainly because Mr. Crepsley seemed to be getting irritated, and decided to walk for at least the remainder of the night. Mr. Crepsley reported that he and Harkat had passed by a rundown, deserted farmhouse several miles away, which would serve as good enough shelter as the morning was drawing nearer. As we went up and down the gently sloping hills, I kept glancing back, fearing that Arra could be right about the vampaneze following us.

We cut it closer that usual that night, waiting until the sky began to glow an early morning orange. As it turned out, the farmhouse was further away than Mr. Crepsley and Harkat had thought. When we finally reached it, the vampires hurried indoors through a broken window, leaving me and Harkat to search a small shed behind the house for food. Unfortunately, when we went to open the small door in the front of it, it was stuck tight. We tugged and pulled at the handle, and when that failed us, we tried running into it. Other than bruising our arms and ribs, this didn't seem to make any difference.

"Maybe we should just go hungry, it's not budging," I grunted, kicking the door irritably, "it's not like we'd starve to-"

"OY! KEEP IT DOWN!"

Harkat and I froze in terror. I whipped my head around, checking in all directions, but saw only green, plain grass, with no hiding spots. No where except...I kicked the shed door again, and this time, there was no mistaking where, or who, the voice was coming from.

* * *

Cliff-hanger especially for Rowan 'The Coffee Fiend' Rawr., because I know she misses them ;)

Anyways, I hope you all liked it, and thanks for reading! You know how much I love reviews, so go on, press the "review this story" link and write something...you just _know_ you want to!

Oh, well, since you're all still here, I'll take this opportunity to give a shameless plug...yay! If you have any opposition to plugs, please look away now! :D My sister, flyinglion, just made an account and put up two stories already - one for_ A Wrinkle in Time_, and one for the _Warriors _series, so if anyone likes either of those, you should check her out (there's a link to her profile on mine), because she's pretty awesome :). Thanks!


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N: **13 chapters in, with not many more to go! Sorry for the lack of updates lately; with the school year winding down it's getting harder to find time to write (things other than papers and essays, that is). But anyways, here you go, hope you enjoy it, and that it'll spark some curiosity for the next couple chapters ;D

Oh, and I was totally distracted while I was proofreading this because I was trying to watch 'Frasier' at the same time, so please excuse any errors :)

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"Charna's guts!" the angry voice barked.

Harkat and I looked up and beamed at each other. "Vancha!" Harkat called, moving closer to the door and shouting. "How'd you get in... there, the door's...stuck?"

We heard cursing and shuffling around and seconds later a very disheveled-looking Vancha appeared, coming around the side of the shed. He shook his green hair out of his face and grinned at me and Harkat in greeting.

"Vancha!" I roared, rushing forward to hug him. "It's great to see you!"

"Really, then you _can_ see?" he said, a look of irritated surprise on his face.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"There's a break in the back wall you could have walked right in through," he grunted, pointing over the roof of the shed, "but you baboons had to bang the hell out of the door."

"Sorry," I muttered; it hadn't occurred to me to go around, though I felt like an idiot now as he pointed it out. "We were looking for food, we never thought someone would be in there."

"No food in there," he shook his head. "Just a bunch of old shovels. " He looked around me and Harkat, then asked, "Where'd Larten and Arra go?" I jerked my thumb towards the house and then again at the rising sun, which he seemed to be choosing to ignore. He grunted in understanding.

"Come on," I said, smiling. I was glad the Vancha was back for a couple reasons. Of course I was happy that he was all right, but on top of that, it made me feel like we were a little closer to Lady Evanna's; though I never complained, I was tired of traveling. "Let's go inside, and you can tell us what you've been up to."

"Nothing to tell, really," he said, trailing after me and Harkat as we turned back to the small farmhouse. "I just needed to get away."

"That's understandable," Harkat nodded.

As we neared the door, Harkat and I exchanged brief, discrete glances, both non-verbally asking each other the same question: should we tell him that we didn't return for the vampaneze? Would it be best to act as though nothing had happened and hope things would wash over?

Whatever the case, there was no need to address it at that very moment. When we walked through the door, we were met by Arra and Mr. Crepsley, who, initially, looked a little put-out that we carried no food, but lit up when Vancha entered, grinning. We spent the next several minutes greeting each other, then began to recount what we had done after we had parted ways. No one specifically said whether or not we had gone back to confront the vampaneze, but I could tell by Vancha's mood that he knew we hadn't. He laughed out loud when Mr. Crepsley told him about the rocky ravines we had been traipsing through. Apparently, there was a faster, easier way we could have accessed by bearing several miles to the right. A very red Mr. Crepsley mumbled that last time he had passed through, there had been snow blocking that way, so naturally, he had forgotten about it this time.

Before continuing, we hunted around the house for anything edible. We couldn't find food, but Harkat discovered a keg of ale in the basement. We had no idea how old it was or how long it had been sitting there, but were willing to take our chances. Once we'd all filled a mug, we sat in a windowless room on the second floor and asked Vancha what he had been doing. He merely shrugged. "I kept my mind busy. I back-tracked from where we met up and flitted here and there, wrapped up some unfinished business a few countries over from here."

"What unfinished business?" I asked curiously. "Prince business?"

"Not quite," he shook his head. He tried his first gulp of ale and seemed to like it, because he downed the rest before answering. "I was passing through a strange rain forest a while back and thought I saw some people resembling the guardians of blood. I had almost finished hunting around for them when I left for the city, and when I got back a couple weeks ago, I searched the remainder of the land and didn't find them. Probably a mis-."

"Wait," Harkat interrupted. "Why did you go...to the city in the...first place."

Vancha blinked. "The killings."

"But how did...you know?"

"As a matter of fact, Desmond Tiny was the one who mentioned them."

There was a hacking noise from my right as Arra spit her ale back into the mug, choking. "What?" she asked in between gasps for air.

"He happened to be in the rain forest with some Little People," Vancha said, jerking his head towards Harkat. "When I ran into him, he mentioned that he was leaving the next day to go to that city since a lot of people were dying. Said he enjoyed it."

"Why have you not mentioned this until now?" Mr. Crepsley asked, his eyes on Arra, who looked as though she might be sick.

Vancha shrugged. "Didn't think it would be important."

"Desmond Tiny," Arra said, "does not just 'happen' to be anywhere. He didn't appear by chance."

"No one hates Tiny more than me," Vancha said, shaking his head. "But for the first time, he didn't seem to have malicious intent while talking to me. He didn't tell me what to do, or where to go. Didn't say much at all as a matter of fact."

"What did he say?" I asked slowly, exchanging glances with Arra; I could tell we were thinking the same thing.

"Well," Vancha said, thinking. "He wanted to know how I was, and I told him I'd be better if he were in a different dimension. He asked what I was doing in the forest, I told him to screw off. He asked if I wanted some Little People to help me, and after I told him what he could do with his Little People - " he looked at Harkat, "sorry, mate, no offence - that was it. Didn't seem to have any reason for talking to me. He said that if I didn't need his help, he'd get going because there was a massacre in a faraway city he didn't want to miss. After he left, I decided I wanted to fudge it up for him and went to see if I could stop the killings. That was pretty much the extent of it. You know the rest."

"He was baiting you," Arra said. "He wanted you there."

"Can't have," Vancha disagreed. "He didn't tell me which city. I had follow his tracks to find it, and that was no easy feat. Half the time it was as though all of his traces had disappeared and I was after the Little People. He would have dropped some more hints if he wanted me there."

When none of us answered, Vancha asked hesitantly, "Wouldn't he?"

"I don't think so," I said darkly, shaking my head. "Mr. Tiny's smart, he'd know that you'd be on to him."

"Why would he send me to the city in the first place?" he said, and I could tell he still doubted it.

"The vampaneze," Arra said, her face still a pale green. "He wanted you - or, rather us - to run into them."

"Just for the drama?" Harkat said skeptically.

"Possibly," Mr. Crepsley said, though he didn't seem convinced that that was the sole reason. "But would he go to the trouble of hunting of you down, for what turned out to be a five minute conversation, just to drop a hint because he thought it would be entertaining?"

I shrugged. "Mr. Tiny's been known to do weirder things. What else would it be?"

Mr. Crepsley shook his head and sighed. "I am not sure. Though, I believe Lady Evanna, if willing, will be able to answer many of our questions. The more we rest, the faster we will travel this night. Perhaps it is time we turn in."

I wasn't tired, and I knew my head wouldn't stop spinning any time soon, but I agreed, as did everyone else, that it was time to say good night (or, rather, good day - I still hadn't gotten used to that). Vancha mumbled something about liking to sleep underground and slunk off to the basement, where he would no doubt be kept in good company by the ale. Harkat and I moved down to the first floor and found an armchair and couch to sleep on. He didn't fit width-wise on the chair, and so I had to sleep there. It was not comfortable. For the first twenty minutes, I shifted around, grumbling under my breath as I tried to get situated. Long after Harkat's quiet snores filled the room, I was still adjusting myself, unable to get to sleep.

Even when I was tired enough to begin to drift off, the murmured voices of Mr. Crepsley and Arra from upstairs kept me awake. After several minutes of trying futilely to block them out, I decided to go ask them to keep it down. I grudgingly slid off the armchair and quietly tiptoed past Harkat. Supporting myself on the railing as I climbed the stairs, I stepped as lightly as possible, trying to be silent.

As I approached the first floor, I could hear what Arra was saying, though she was speaking in a hushed tone. I carefully walked down the hall to the far room - the windowless one we had been in earlier - and found that the door was ajar.

"I'm not saying that's definitely it, but..."

"Arra," Mr. Crepsley interrupted her, "you know as well as I that it is impossible. I agree that there is something strange going on, more so than we had thought before, but that cannot be it."

I crept close enough that I could see inside. They were lying on the carpet, Arra's head resting on Mr. Crepsley's chest. Even in the darkness of the windowless room I could see concern and - I never thought I'd see it on the face of Arra Sails - fear. I dropped back into the shadow behind the door, careful not to let them spot me.

"I know it doesn't make sense," she said, and I had never heard her sound more anxious, even when she had been so close to death, "but...I can't describe why I think so, I just have a feeling."

There were a few seconds of silence, and I held my breath, my curiosity spiked - what did she think? Then Mr. Crepsley answered, "I am not doubting that you have a feeling, I just think that you are misinterpreting it."

"Maybe," she said, sounding unconvinced. "But when you add everything up..."'

"They are coincidences," he said firmly. "Perhaps it is a mind game from Desmond Tiny, designed to create fear for you. Perhaps you are just reading into things, as we all are."

"I told you, it's different," she said simply. "It's not the typical foreboding. It's something else."

I could tell from the way Mr. Crepsley let out a long, slow breath that he was having self-conflict regarding what to say next. Speaking slowly and choosing his words carefully, he said, "You...there are very few things that frighten you, but I believe it is safe to say that Destiny is one of them." I could see Arra's face twitch as every part of her wanted to deny that anything, or anyone, scared her, but after a second, she nodded. "You have been since you were young. It is possible that your fear is causing you to..."

It was her turn to interrupt now. "It's not because I'm...afraid," she choked on the last word. "I know it isn't."

There were several beats of quiet again before Mr. Crepsley said, "Maybe it is not. However, I am certain that Lady Evanna has the answers that you seek. Whether she will willingly give them to you is debatable, but until we reach her, it will be best if you calm down."

"How would you know what's best for me when even I don't?" she asked defensively.

"Maybe I care more about you than you do yourself."

She swallowed. "Probably." With a sigh, she shifted onto her side, leaning in against Mr. Crepsley. He reached his arm around her and stroked the back of her hair gently.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly.

"I don't know," she said, and her voice was hollow. She pressed her forehead to his chest and took deep, shaking breaths.

I stood there, hoping desperately that one of them would say something, anything that would let me know what was going on. After countless minutes of silence, I realized that both had probably fallen asleep, and I decided to chance it and go back downstairs. I carefully slid out from behind the door and tiptoed down the hall. Only five steps out, I heard Arra's weary voice again, and stopped and turned back towards their room to listen. "Larten?"

"Yes?"

"Keep this between us?"

He kissed the top of her head. "Of course."

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That little moment was long overdue, even if it was a little sappy :D

Please review and tell me what you thought, I really appreciate it!! Thanks for reading!


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N: **Big thanks to everyone who's review - we're over fifty now! I seriously do appreciate every review I get, so thanks :D

I apologize in advance for how long this chapter is :P

Amazingly, I have nothing else to say tonight, so here you go!

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As we traveled over the next couple weeks, our moods began to shift. Most of us, likely for our own separate reasons, were becoming increasingly apprehensive about arriving at Evanna's cave, and it was starting to show. The exception was Vancha, who, to the contrary, seemed entirely indifferent; he appeared to be happy to travel with us again, and joked around as much as ever. Mr. Crepsley was becoming less tolerant of this. Had Vancha not been a Prince, I was sure Mr. Crepsley would have grumbled aloud more than he was. Judging by the way his face turned red and his hands clenched in and out of fists, I felt that a couple times he had lost his patience to the point of wanting to hit Vancha. Whether he was on edge because of our proximity to Evanna or because of whatever it was he and Arra had been discussing, I didn't know, but I would have guessed the latter, if not a mix of the two. Arra too seemed a bit off, but in a different way than Mr. Crepsley. Rather than getting irritated easily, she seemed distant, as though there was a constant nagging about something somewhere in her mind, and it was obstructing her perception of what was going on around her. She barely spoke to anyone but Mr. Crepsley, hardly ate, and spent hours each day trying to fall asleep - several times I had watched her toss and turn from side to side for hours before she finally seemed to get comfortable and relax enough to fall into what always seemed to be a restless sleep.

Whatever it was that had Arra and Mr. Crepsley so fidgety, it was killing me that I didn't know; it was of course out of the question that I ask one of them. During daylight hours when we were looking for food far away from the vampires, I had filled Harkat in, and between the two of us we couldn't come up with a way to find out what they had been talking about. We tried to keep our ears peeled when they were speaking in hushed voices, or when one had a particularly worried look on their face, but it was to no avail - they seemed to be aware of the fact that we were listening and never said anything noteworthy. We brainstormed as to what it could be, but neither of us came up with anything half credible. Each idea seemed more far-fetched than the next, and after a week-and-a-half of taking wild stabs whenever they were out of earshot, we decided to hang it up and sit it out till reaching Evanna's. Then, at least, it seemed that we would all get some answers.

"We should be there any night now," Mr. Crepsley said late one night as we worked on starting a fire.

"Really?" I said, perking up. It was what I had been waiting to hear for months. "What d'you mean 'any night'? Don't you know where it is?"

"I know exactly where it is," he bristled. "However, I am not sure how long it will take us to reach it from here. I usually flit, and it is hard to judge the distances when walking at a normal speed, but I would expect we could be at her cave as early as tomorrow."

I grinned at Harkat, who was sitting up straighter than before, his jagged smile looking like one of the cracks in the rock surrounding us. We hadn't been flitting at all, yet another thing I found odd, to say the least.

"Aye," Vancha agreed. "If I remember, her cave is just over some of these hills."

I was hardly jumping to call the rocky mounds in front of us hills, nor did it seem likely that we would be able to cross them in a night, but the prospect of being so near brightened my mood considerably.

"We should eat now and sleep soon so we can get an early start tomorrow," Mr. Crepsley said, then groaned and chucked the stick that had been in his hands away. "_If_ I can ever get this bloody fire started. Darren, please go and find some dry wood, this is not lighting."

"There'll be dry one's closer to the rocks," Arra said. She slid off the tree stump she had been sitting on and motioned for me to follow her. "I'll help you."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Mr. Crepsley watching her closely as she led the way forward. He didn't look away until we were out of sight, though I would bet that if I could have seen him, he would still have been watching our general direction. After walking for several minutes, we passed many trees, but all were green and very much alive. Contrary to what Arra had thought, it seemed that the further away we got from our campsite, the more supple the nature was. Though I could see the mountains drawing nearer, it was as though we were entering marshy lands.

Another several minutes passed before Arra stopped and sighed. "Let's look over there," she said, pointing to a very dark area of the forest, that even in the light of the full moon above was pitch black. "Probably gets no sunlight, so I'd bet there's a dead tree or something we can burn."

Unfortunately, the lack of light made it hard for us to see well enough to find any wood. I kicked absentmindedly at some rocks on the ground while I waited for my eyes to adjust, which they did after several seconds. I looked around, and, my eyes falling onto a small, dead log, smiled. I kicked one final rock out of my way as I went to pick it up. Before I could take two steps, Arra's hand shot out and grabbed my shoulder. Her voice was urgent, "Don't move!"

I froze in my tracks, tensing and looking wide-eyed out into the trees for danger, my ears peeled for an attacker. When I saw and heard nothing, I glanced back at her, frowning. "What?" I mouthed.

Barely moving, she jerked her thumb not in the direction of the trees surrounding us, or anywhere else an enemy would be attacking from, but instead the ground near my feet. I slowly turned my eyes down, and when I saw what she was gesturing to nearly laughed with relief. It was a frog. Granted it was an unusually large and oddly marked frog, but never-the-less, it was very nonthreatening.

"You kicked it," Arra muttered under her breath, barely moving.

"So? It's just a dumb f-"

Before my brain could register what was happening, Arra yanked me backwards, there was a snapping noise, and an insanely long tongue missed my leg by a hair. I stumbled back from the force Arra had pulled me with, kept on my feet only by her iron grip still on my shoulder. I yelped in surprise, then glared at her for startling me. "What's the matter with it?" I snapped; I still couldn't see why she was so worried about a frog.

"Poisonous," she said simply. "I've heard about these frogs, they belong to Lady Evanna. She breeds them. One lick and you're dead."

I frowned. "She breeds...?" I began, but decided it was not the time for questions. "Then," I said, trying not to move anything but my lips, "let's get out of here!"

She shook her head, "They're guards. I think it'd chase us."

"Can't we flit?"

"Couldn't get started fast enough."

"Well," I said, trying to keep my voice steady though I was starting to get irritated with her lack of ideas, "maybe you should kill it."

"I could," she nodded fairly. "But somehow I don't think that would go over very well with Evanna."

I was about to interrupt and say that, to hell with Evanna, I didn't want to be killed by something slimy and green, but before I could, an unfamiliar voice from behind us said, "No, it wouldn't go over well at all."

I didn't want to take my eyes off the poisonous frog to see who it was, but almost as suddenly and unexpectedly as the voice had spoken, the frog gave a deep croak, used it's stubby feet to turn a half-turn away from us, and hopped out of sight. I spun around, and my eyes popped open at the strange-looking person behind us. I could tell from her voice that it was a woman, but it was the weirdest, least-womanly looking woman I had ever seen. She was short, much shorter than me or Arra, thick, and extremely hairy. She put Truska, the bearded lady from the Cirque du Freak, to shame. Even more bizarre than her hair and size were her clothes, if you could call them that. Instead of a shirt or pants, or anything resembling normal clothing, she was dressed entirely in thick ropes. If I hadn't been scared stiff I would have laughed. The woman gave us a very twisted smile, revealing crooked, yellow teeth . Her eyes passed over to me and she chuckled.

"You look surprised, Darren Shan," she said, and I gave a start when she said my name.

Perhaps because she wasn't about to have a heart attack like I was sure I would, Arra was able to put the pieces together faster than I was. "Lady Evanna," she said, and it was something between a question and an acknowledgement. The woman nodded, and my mind started to slowly wrap around what was going on. Finally, I realized that Evanna had spoked to me.

"I..."I started, feeling like I needed to answer. "I was startled."

"No matter," she shrugged. "It is good to see you at long last." Her eyes came to rest on Arra, and she added, "Both of you. Did my frog scare you?"

"Not really," Arra said, clearing her throat. "We wanted to be cautious, that was all."

Evanna nodded. "You should have been," she commented, lifting a thick shoulder in a shrug. "It doesn't always pay to be fearless."

Arra blinked. Somehow I had a feeling this was not going to be a lasting friendship. Not having anything to say in response, Arra said, "I've heard much about you, I'm glad I finally have a chance to meet you." The words had no sooner left her mouth than Evanna started to giggle. "What?" Arra asked, taken aback.

"It's a very long explanation," Evanna said, waving her off lightly, "one which I will get into at another point in time when I have all the hunters together. Larten, Vancha, and Harkat are behind you." It wasn't a question, she knew she was right. "You would have made it to my home eventually on your own, but I was growing impatient and decided to come find you myself. I figured you would be here ages ago."

"We had some setbacks," Arra explained. "We haven't been flitting."

"I knew you wouldn't be," Evanna said. "But still, I've seen human children travel faster than you five."

"We took a slight detour early on," Arra told her defensively, "and lost about a week there."

"Oh?" Evanna cocked her head; it seemed Arra had finally told her something she didn't already know.

"When we ran into Vancha," she continued, "he said he had been tipped off about a large number of killings in a city and he had been going to investigate. We agreed to accompany him."

"Tipped off by Desmond Tiny," Evanna said, and once again, she was merely thinking out loud, not asking whether or not she was correct. Arra and I nodded, and I wondered vaguely how she could have known that, as well as knowing that we wouldn't be flitting. "I would assume that you did not run into the culprits?"

"Actually, we did," I said.

Evanna's eyes, one green, one brown, flashed back-and-forth from me to Arra. "Did you kill them? Arra shook her head, opening her mouth to explain, but Evanna cut in before she could begin. "Come with me," she said, immediately turning away from us and starting to walk. "I want you all at my cave before sunrise." Then, more to herself than either of us, added in a mumble, "He is becoming more desperate than I thought."

Arra and I exchanged confused glances, but quickly followed Evanna.

"Um," I said, jogging to keep up with her. "Mr. Crepsley said your cave was over one of those mountains."

"Yes, well, it's hard for anyone to pinpoint exactly where it is, even if they've been there before," she said. "But of course, once you've been shown the way..." Her voice trailed off and she put her hands out as if displaying something, and all at once, it was like my eyes had opened for the first time and I was looking at an entirely different part of the forest. What had been the dark patch Arra and I had been standing in was now an open clearing. A small, still pond was several feet in front of us, and just beyond it was an arched opening in the side of a rocky face - Evanna's cave. I glanced at Arra, and I could tell by the way her eyes, turned a blue-ish green by the moss and grass surrounding us, stared wonderingly out that she too had just noticed our surroundings. I became aware of a deep croaking, and looked at the edges of the pond. At first, I thought I was seeing the frog that had startled me and Arra, but then, as my eyes took in the rest, I gasped; there was not one, not ten, but hundreds - if not thousands - of similar frogs covering the forest floor, each croaking and crammed in next to one another, carpeting the ground more than the moss. "Mind you don't step on the frogs," Evanna cautioned us, and Arra and I looked immediately down at our feet. "Follow me," Evanna said. Watching our step, Arra and I stepped around the frogs and behind Evanna. Several times, I had to freeze, with one foot mid-step, to avoid a moving frog. Finally, they began to clear as Evanna led us to the mouth of the cave, and when we entered, they stayed outside. "Come in and sit down," Evanna instructed us.

My eyes bugged out of my head when I looked around; this certainly was not like the inside of any cave I had ever been in. It wasn't just furnished like a house, it was decorated like a lavish palace - albeit an extremely bizarre, unconventional one It contained all the ordinary furnishings, like sofas and chairs and tables, and then some other strange items that I didn't recognize. Then again, I wasn't surprised to see out-of-the-ordinary objects in the home of a woman who wore ropes.

"Sit, sit," Evanna said again, hurriedly, but not rudely. I looked sideways at Arra, who had chosen to sit on very large purple chair, and was looking around at the room with a look resembling amusement on her face. I spotted a fairly normal-looking cushion next to her and sat down, shuffling slightly as I turned to find Evanna. I craned my neck looking for her, but it was as if she had disappeared without warning.

"Where did she -?" I started to ask, but Arra only shrugged.

"I sat down, and when I looked up she was gone," she said, her eyes still traveling around the room.

I edged a little closer to her, starting to feel uneasy. "It's like she was expecting us," I said, my voice hushed.

"Of course she was expecting us," Arra said. "She's probably been expecting us for a bloody century."

"Where d'you think she went?"

"I'm not sure," she murmured. "Though, I imagine she went to get Larten, Vancha, and Harkat. She seems to want to talk to us together."

I tried to brainstorm any possible reason we could be here, any reason she or Mr. Tiny would want us here. "Everyone talks about her having magical abilities, I wonder if she can see into the future," I said. "Maybe she can tell us what'll happen with the Vampaneze Lord. Like, if we can kill him or not."

"I doubt it," Arra said. "Even if she could see exactly what lies in the future, I don't think she would - or could - tell us. But maybe she can answer our questions."

"What questions?" I asked curiously.

"Many questions," she said with finality, and sunk wearily down in her chair. "And hopefully we can get at least one answer."

I knew it was absolutely no use to ask Arra what her questions were - after all, I would be hearing them soon anyway - and so we sat in silence until we heard the voices from outside. We both got to our feet when Evanna stepped in, closely followed by Harkat, Vancha, and Mr. Crepsley. Mr. Crepsley met my gaze, and I had a feeling he was trying to nonverbally communicate the message not to say anything stupid.

Arra wasn't the only one who had questions; I could tell right off the bat the Mr. Crepsley was itching get to business, but Evanna, despite having been so anxious earlier, wouldn't hear of it.

"Not until you've all eaten and rested. I've got a lot to say, and I'm not going to repeat it because someone drifted off," she said. From there, she led us into another portion of her cave, where stood a long dining table, already adorned with food. This time, I didn't ask, or even wonder, how she had timed it just right. I sat down opposite her and tucked in, happy to be eating off of something other than a rock or a leaf.

Evanna spent a long time catching up with Vancha and Mr. Crepsley, both of whom seemed at ease speaking with her. I didn't know why they had been so weird about her before, she seemed perfectly nice to me - eccentric, yes, but mean, no. The longer we sat at the table, the more comfortable I started to feel, and soon I was confident enough to say more than a few words when she turned to me.

"Darren Shan, the young vampire Prince," she said, and I smiled. "I've wanted to meet you for a very, very long time. I knew you'd end up here eventually."

I nodded. "So...you're a witch?"

Vancha groaned and banged his forehead onto the table. I looked away from Evanna for a split second, and when I looked back, I stumbled off my chair in fright. It was as though she had shot up to twice her prior size, and a certain inexplicable rumble seemed to be emanating from her. "What did you call me?" she boomed.

"N...nothing!" I said quickly, scurrying backwards into Mr. Crepsley, who had the palms of his hand pressed to his eyes.

"Who told you I was a witch?" she barked, and her voice made the dishes and bowls rattle.

"We specifically told him not to call you a witch," Mr. Crepsley said, shaking his head disgustedly at me. I grimaced apologetically.

Evanna whipped her head around at me, and I let out an involuntary whimper. "Sorry," I said. "I didn't...they didn't...sorry."

There were several tense moments in which we all stared at her fuming face, and I swore I could almost see steam billowing out of her ears. Then, after what felt like the longest few minutes of my life, she seemed to deflate back to her earlier size. She righted her chair - which had knocked over when she had jumped to her feet - and sat; Arra, to her right, slid a few inches away from her. "I have many abilities," Evanna said, and her voice sounded surprisingly calm for someone who had just exploded, almost literally. "Abilities beyond what any vampire, or human, or any other creature on earth could dream of possessing." She gave Vancha and Mr. Crepsley scornful looks, and added, "Witches wave sticks and brew green, goopy potions to curse adversaries; I need none of that tomfoolery."

I was glad that she hadn't turned me into a toad (although, in case she could read minds, I pushed that idea out of my head - it seemed very witch-like), but my tongue was still tied from her explosion a minute ago, and so all I could do was nod stupidly.

"If you don't...mind me asking," Harkat said delicately, as though he was speaking to a gun-wielding psychopath, "why do you have...those abilities? Who exactly are...you?"

Evanna smiled and so did I; it was the question that had been on my mind since we had left Vampire Mountain what seemed like years ago, and I was finally going to hear an answer. "Then you haven't been told yet? Excellent," she said. "I rather enjoy telling the story myself." Mr. Crepsley gave me an "I-told-you-so" look, which Evanna smirked at. "Larten's learned the hard way that I like to tell my own stories," she added.

"I have, Lady," he nodded.

"Well," she said, getting to her feet and sighing. "Leave everything on the table and come with me. Harkat, the answer to your question is a long story, and I have many hours of other explanations, so we may as well make ourselves comfortable and get to it." Evanna picked her chair up with ease and started off to a jagged rock door on the other side of the room. No one asked why she was bringing the chair with her. Instead, we all stood, leaving whatever food we hadn't finished on our plates, hunger suddenly becoming unimportant. Evanna led us into yet another room, and this one looked as though it had been made for the exact purpose of telling long and confusing stories. Then I remembered that Evanna probably saw that this was going to happen eons ago, and so maybe that was exactly why it was constructed as such. There were five comfy, squishy chairs, set up near each other, all seeming to point in the direction of one chair, which, not surprising, Evanna slid into. She had placed the dining chair in the same fashion (we were six, and there had only been five chairs when we entered), but when I went to sit on it, she shook her head.

"I wasn't quite sure how many of you to expect," she explained, gesturing to the chair. "I rounded down, but I must say, I'm glad I have an excuse to make someone sit on it. I could have gotten another nicer chair, but..." She shrugged pointed to the wooden one from the other room. "Vancha, sit."

He grinned - Vancha didn't like to use any human comforts, like chairs or beds. "Just for me," he said gleefully, flopping down and making the knobby legs wobble. "I'm flattered that you remembered my preferences."

"Preferences?" Evanna rolled her eyes. "I didn't bring it out especially for your stupid preferences. You're sitting on wood because you're a filthy slob!"

Vancha chuckled. "Tactful as ever, Evanna," he chided, and she made a face.

"Enough chatter," she grumbled. "We came in here to answer Harkat's question then move on to the real stuff. I haven't got all day.

"I'll try to keep my answer brief," she said, resting her feet on a footrest I could have sworn wasn't there thirty seconds ago. "As you all know, vampires were designed incapable of reproducing through any method other than blooding others. It's troubled many over the centuries, but none as much as a vampire named Corza Jarn. Nearly two milleniums ago, Corza and his mate, Sarfa, began searching for a way to have offspring of their own. Needless to say, the search for cures to the curse of bareness lasted for a long time, so long that Sarfa died. This was only an impetus for Corza to search harder, determined to finish what he and his mate had started. This led him to none other than Desmond Tiny."

At the mention of his name, Vancha made a loud, rude noise, which Evanna chose to ignore.

"At first, and by 'at first', I mean for well over a century, Desmond refused his pleas, scoffing at the now ancient vampire, telling him that his requests were futile. And then, one day he changed his mind. No one knows why. He agreed to mix Corza's blood with that of a pregnant wolf, and claimed that this would result in beings able to bear a vampire child. Amazingly, everything went as planned. When the cubs were born, two of the four were human in form - that is to say they took a human shape, they were in fact a strange mixture of vampire, wolf, and Tiny. Both grew quickly, and within a year, the male had left, and no one has seen hide nor hair of him since. The female left soon after, but sent Corza with a message to the vampires. He was to tell them of her story and her ability, but was also to say that she requested that none of them seek her out, because she was not ready for motherhood. It was four centuries before she was first seen by other vampires." She took a deep breath, sighed, looked at each of us in turn, then shrugged and added half-heartedly, "The end."

"What!" I said, jumping out of my armchair. "But...but...did they find her? Did she choose a mate? Who is she?"

Evanna blinked at me, then, without warning, her hand came up and slapped me on the ear.

"Ow! What the hell?" I shouted.

"With you as one of the deciders of the vampire's destiny, I fear for their future," Evanna grumbled, rolling her eyes. "The story was about me, Darren. _I_am the one thought to be the only female possessing the ability to bear offspring of vampires."

"Wha -?" Mr. Crepsley began, but Evanna held a hand up.

"Don't interrupt," she said. "It'll only make this take longer. I know your questions, and I know the answers. I'm going to tell you all I plan to tonight, so listen closely."

She didn't need to say it twice. All eyes were fixed to her. "Harkat, the answer to your question of why I have special abilities: when Desmond Tiny mixed the blood of the wolf and Corza Jarn, there was a bit of himself. So, you might say that I am a daughter of Destiny. As he has powers beyond the grasp of the vampire mind, I do as well." She gave a very heavy sigh. "And this leads me to the next topic, the reason you all set out here in the first place. I had planned to give you this information over time, but I can see now that things are more urgent than I thought. Desmond Tiny is meddling, and it is time we put a stop to it."

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_So, I think I told some people that you'd get answers in this chapter - unfortunately, I've made what is called an 'accidental untruth' (I love that phrase, 'accidental untruth'. I could say it a million times…but I'll spare you :D). So sorry! I truly was planning to, but it started to get so long (it still is, but we're not even halfway through Evanna's stories, so I had to cut it) that I realized you'd all be drifting off before you get to the end, and so, lo and behold, I have cut it here. Many apologies! The good news is that I'll have the next chapter up soon, I promise (and this is not going to turn into another accidental untruth, I swear)! Look on the bright side; they made it to Evanna's! Only took, um, 14 chapters..._

_Oh, why yes, I would love it if you reviewed, thank you! :D_


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: **See chapter 1

**A/N: **Well, it may surprise some of you, or all of you, that is the final chapter. Yes, 'The Fourth Hunter' is over in about 3,500 more words :O Before you begin, I want to send out a big "thanks" to you all for reading and sticking with this, and even bigger thanks (complete with a hug!) for those of you that have reviewed! And that's all I have to say, more in the end note. Fingers crossed that you'll all like this...

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Evanna sat up straighter in her chair, and as a result, the air in the room seemed to suddenly thicken with tension and anxious anticipation. She reached out and, off a small end table - was that table there before? - picked up a clipping of a tree branch. It wasn't just a bare stick, it was a full-looking branch with many shoot-offs, each with their own twigs dividing out in different directions. She held the branch up and examined it, gently running her fingers along each of the six first-level shoots.

"Destiny," she began, and her tone was ominous. "It's a fickle thing. One event can lead to a whole host of others, and each action, each death, each -" her thick fingers stopped on one particularly thin off-shoot, but with the most twigs coming off of it, "-survival, has repercussions and consequences. When Desmond Tiny appeared at Vampire Mountain several months ago, he told you of six different paths in the future, all pertaining to the Lord of the Vampaneze, and thus the future of the existence between the vampires and the vampaneze. He explained that one had already been diminished with the execution of Kurda Smahlt." With that, she took hold of one of the larger shoots and with a quick snap, it was detached from the branch. "That left five possible options. The next three he mentioned were encounters between the hunters - you - and the Vampaneze Lord. These, as he said, gave chances for you and your vampaneze equivalents, that is to say, their hunters, to kill each other. He said that in one of these encounters, if you succeeded in killing their Lord, there would be victory for the vampires. If not, it would lead to your downfall. He particularly enjoyed these three options - Desmond Tiny thrives on conflict and death, and those three paths guarantee both. He played them up, and led you to believe that they were the best options. I believe I'm correct in saying that that is what you are prepared for?"

We nodded; I had forgotten altogether that Mr. Tiny had even mentioned that there were other ways for us to succeed. I shifted nervously in my seat, waiting for what Evanna would say next, excited that there could be an option not involving death.

"He also said that there was an option that would come only at the very end. He wasn't lying - that is a last resort and involves none of you, and so I have no reason to speak of it.

"That leaves one final option, one which Desmond brushed by, hoping to avoid." Her hand now closed around the one sickly-looking shoot. "As is the case with each of these, Desmond and I saw this sixth path of destiny centuries ago. From the start he was opposed to it, because rather than leading to war, where either the vampires or vampaneze would be triumphant - if only temporarily - this had the possibility to bring the clans together in peace." She sighed again, and other than her exhale, the room was perfectly silent. "From the beginning, this path seemed the least likely. All the odds were stacked against it, and more and more chances came for it to be wiped out. Desmond Tiny did all he could to increase the possibility that that turn never happen. Time after time, that sixth path defied all odds." She paused, then pulled a face. "I need to back up, or this isn't going to make any sense. You see, five out of the six possible futures involved only three hunters from the vampire clan, among of course various other non-vampires to help them." She nodded at Harkat. "But the final one, the sixth path, required one other to survive."

Vancha, Mr. Crepsley, and I looked around, fidgeting as we tried to guess which one of the four of us had gotten a lucky break and, in a one-in-six chance, skirted through Destiny. Only Arra didn't seem to have questions or curiosity. Her gaze never passed off Evanna. Slowly, after several seconds of silence, in barely more than a whisper, Arra said, "Me."

Evanna nodded, "You." All eyes turned to Arra, who sat still as a statue, as though completely unsurprised. "I don't need to remind you how many times you've cheated death, Arra Sails," Evanna said. "Many times it has been in battles, and you've survived by fighting, as have many other vampires. But beyond the typical wars all vampires fight, you've been in other predicaments, some inexplicably...coincidental. You knew Desmond Tiny sent the vampaneze near Arrow's home back when you were a half-vampire; did you ever wonder why?"

"I..." Arra said, shaking her head, "I always thought..."

"It was just for the fun of it?" Evanna finished for her, and Arra nodded, her face pale. "No, this time, he had a better reason. It wasn't about your mentor or the Prince, and it wasn't just for entertainment. He wanted them to kill you. He wanted to have one of his preferred turns of fate ensured, one which didn't involve a fourth hunter. However," she looked at Mr. Crepsley, who was as white as Arra, "through the fortuitous and timely arrival of Larten and Gavner Purl, and some tricky escapes by you yourself, you survived the first of what would be several events which, in most cases, seemed likely to kill you. Several years later, when you and Larten were ambushed en route to a council, you somehow managed to kill your attackers, though you were outnumbered. Each time you prevailed in an unlikely scenario, that sixth path of destiny became a little stronger, and Desmond Tiny became a bit more nervous. He became desperate, and his attempts to have you killed became reckless, and finally he realized that he would have to stop, and let things take their natural course, or else risk breaking the laws that govern him, and setting all chaos loose. By the time Darren was blooded, that sixth path had become as strong as the others." And, sure as anything, that small shoot she had been caressing earlier was now just like the rest, despite the fact that several seconds ago it had been small and sickly.

Now, as Evanna paused, there was a slight smile playing at her lips, an almost guilty smile. "Just as Desmond Tiny has more power and foresight than I, he also has stricter rules binding him. Also unlike my father, I don't enjoy the pain and suffering that results in the other ways of combating the Lord of the Vampaneze. I had watched this branch of fate go from a sickly twig to a lush growth of its own, and I wasn't willing to let it fail without a struggle. Fast forward to several months ago." She looked once again at Arra. "Glalda stabbed you in the stomach - of course, this could have happened to anyone. You would have died." Evanna was full-on smiling now. "_If_ I hadn't stepped in."

"Stepped in?" Mr. Crepsley asked, his voice crackly from listening for so long. "That is impossible, you were not there."

She continued smiling. "Not in this form I wasn't. Did either of you happen to notice the medic who aided you?"

"It was not the first thing on my mind," Mr. Crepsley said.

"Or mine," Arra muttered.

"Of course not," Evanna nodded understandingly. "I didn't expect it to be. Even if you had, you wouldn't have recognized the young man - who, I must say, was rather attractive, I wouldn't mind taking that form on again." She flashed us a teasing smile.

There was a second where we all frowned, confused. "So it was..." Arra began, but her voice trailed of halfway through. "You were...Charna's guts...does that mean...?" She let out a long, slow breath and pressed her hands to her face. I wondered if her stress went beyond knowing that she could have - should have - died. My eyes were as wide as Harkat's, and I realized that my mouth was hanging open. I was in no rush to close it. "Evanna," Arra said hoarsely, her fingertips still pressed to her eyes. "You said that you know all our questions, please, please, just tell me..." Uncovering her face, she looked up at Evanna, who's smile was now only a faint shadow. After a second, her head gave a small, almost unnoticeable nod. Arra inhaled sharply and looked at Mr. Crepsley, who had a hand clamped to his mouth and his eyes squeezed closed.

"How?" he asked Evanna, as Vancha, Harkat and I looked frantically back and forth between the three of them, entirely lost.

"How what? What's going on?" Vancha asked.

"I'll get to those both eventually," Evanna said, seemingly unperturbed that whatever she had just confirmed had had such an effect on Mr. Crepsley and Arra. "What's more important now is that I finish as quickly as possible. You see, when I found Arra and Darren, Arra mentioned that you had stopped to investigate human deaths in a city, which Desmond Tiny had dropped the hint about. Is that right, Vancha?"

Vancha nodded. "If I had know -," he coughed, sounding ashamed, but Evanna silenced him by raising her hands.

"It's all right, Vancha, Destiny can take control of the strongest of vampires," she said. "You see, those vampaneze also play into the sixth path of destiny, and when he mentioned the city to you, he had every intention of you going there and killing them, or of them killing you. Luckily, neither happened. It was irresponsible of him to do; he was bending the laws of fate that govern him to try to get involved after things had already been sent into motion. I am hurrying to tell you this now, because the faster you know, the faster you can protect yourselves - he interfered once, and he won't hesitate to do so again. Even if it means risking it all." She paused to breathe, and Vancha immediately cut in with a question.

"How do the vampaneze - those vampaneze - play in?" he swallowed, and I could tell he was thinking of Gannen.

"In the same way you have a fourth hunter, they have an additional player as well. And like I stepped in on your behalf, an accomplice of mine helped to move their side along, giving only a trustworthy few of their hunters as much as I'm telling you."

"Who's your accomplice?" I asked.

She grinned and gave me a sharp elbow in the gut. "If I wanted you to know," she said, "I wouldn't have called them 'an accomplice', would I?"

"Guess not," I grumbled, massaging my stomach. I glanced over at Mr. Crepsley, who, like Arra, still seemed stunned to silence. "You didn't answer 'how' or 'what'."

"I have neither the time nor the want to explain every nitty gritty detail of 'how'," Evanna said. "It was a combination of some convenient turns of fate, a bit of my magic, and, I suppose some other sorts of magic." She giggled as if she had just told a joke and smiled; she was the only one. I was getting annoyed that I was still left in the dark, and I could tell that Harkat at the very least felt the same way. "Larten, Arra," she said, and both raised their heads at the sound of their names. "Perhaps one of you can explain 'how' in the basic essence to Darren."

Arra shook her head, still looking as though she had seen a ghost...that was an understatement, she looked more like a ghost had tried to behead her. Mr. Crepsley coughed a couple times, and asked, "The basic essence?"

"The very basic definition of how things started off, shall we say," she said, and she was still smiling, as though she were toying with him. "After all, you enjoy to tell your own stories as much as I, and who am I to deprive you the opportunity?"

"Please, Lady, I am too..."

"I don't have all night, so hurry it up."

He sighed and once again buried his face, though this time I noticed that his ears were turning pink. "It...nothing in particular...well, ugh, where to begin..."

"Oh for God's sake," Arra interrupted, slapping her hand down on the chair and making us all - save Evanna, who had probably seen that coming a decade ago - jump. "I don't know what type of...twisted idea this is. And I don't see how it's a whole damn path of destiny and not just a sick joke. And I don't know what it is that," she pointed at Evanna, seemingly at a loss for words, "that _witch _did to make it possible." I instinctively turned to Evanna with fright, but she seemed to be letting it slide this time. "But I knew it." She turned to Mr. Crepsley and snarled, "I _told _you."

"You were right," he whispered. "I am sorry that I did not believe you."

"What the hell is going on?" Vancha all but roared. "Someone tell us the damned thing!"

"I cannot be sure how it is possible, but I suppose that it started..." he was all-out red in the face now. "As you know, Arra and I had been mates years ago, and so as you may have assumed, when I returned to Vampire Mountain, we found that we still had feelings for each other." I thought 'had feelings for each other' was a dashing understatement, but I didn't interrupt him to point this out. "Of course, being ex-mates, we shared a certain bond and closeness as we started this hunt for -."

"For the love of God," Evanna interrupted impatiently. "Cut to the chase."

"So we mated," Mr. Crepsley finished, looking away.

"Really?" I said, frowning. I couldn't understand why they hadn't said something sooner, it wasn't like I didn't see it coming. I didn't know why he was being so weird about it. "Wait, I thought you said you wouldn't be mates again, because of me."

He coughed. "That is not what I meant," he said quietly.

"Wha-? Oh..." I blushed and looked at my feet.

Harkat shifted uncomfortably in his chair next to me, but Vancha gave a snort. "Oh _that's _news," he said sarcastically. "Was that really necessary? Couldn't you have just let us know, somewhere in the back of our minds, without you having to tell us all?"

"Apparently, it was necessary," Mr. Crepsley said, bright red and unable to meet anyone's eyes.

"Why?" Harkat asked.

"Because," Arra said, her voice tight, "I suppose that's the answer to 'how'."

"If that's 'how'...then what's 'what'?" Harkat asked.

Evanna seemed to be sick of waiting around for them to answer. "She is pregnant."

There were a few seconds of stunned silence, then Vancha started to laugh. Everyone turned to look at him, in awe that he could be laughing. "That's absurd!" he exclaimed. "Everyone knows that vampires can't have children."

"Not usually," Evanna corrected. "Just as Desmond Tiny made it possible for Corza Jarn to sire a child, I have made it possible now."

"But Arra isn't a wolf!" Vancha said, his chuckles dying off, and despite the news she had just received, Arra rolled her eyes at him.

"No, she isn't," Evanna agreed, "but I made it work for the sake of destiny. You see, that child will play a key part in bringing peace between the vampires and vampaneze."

There were several long, tense minutes in which no one said anything, but only stared at one another, confusion buzzing louder than a fire alarm. I looked from Evanna to Arra to Mr. Crepsley over and over again, trying to make sense of it all. I couldn't figure out how everything would tie in. How was this sixth path of destiny going to bring peace between the vampires and vampaneze?

"How? How could a...baby do that?" Harkat asked finally.

Evanna smiled. "I can't tell you that, Harkat. I've already given too much away - when Desmond Tiny finds out how much I've gotten involved, he'll be after me...almost more than he's after you." She wasn't kidding. "Now, before I go -."

"Go?" Mr. Crepsley cut in incredulously. "What do you mean 'go'?

"'Go'," Evanna repeated. "It means leave. Or depart. As I was saying, before I go, I need to give you all a reminder: though this new path of destiny isn't leading you directly to him at this time, do not forget that you still cannot seek help from the other vampires on any business related to the Lord of the Vampaneze. However, interaction with other, non-vampire beings is encouraged. Also, as I mentioned, Desmond will stop at nothing for chaos: he will set traps for you, he'll send any of his minions from Little People to vampaneze to find you, he'll play games with your minds to tear you apart. I strongly caution you all to avoid him at all costs."

"How does one avoid Destiny?" Vancha huffed.

She smiled. "Oddly enough, heed the advice he gave you: follow your hearts. It has taken you this far." She looked as though she wanted to continue, but was interrupted when a loud croaking from somewhere behind me seemed directed at her. She gave a very strange, gurgled response and got to her feet. "I have to leave for the day, but I'll be back again before sundown tomorrow night. I suggest you all rest and think about all I've told you." She was walking from the cavern now, and I couldn't believe she was going to leave us with so many loose ends still left.

"We're not finished here," Arra said, getting to her feet, and she had been so silent before that, ironically, I had almost forgotten she was there. "What if we want to take one of the other paths?"

"It's too late to go back now," Evanna said simply, not bothering to turn around.

"No it isn't, it doesn't have to be," Arra argued.

"It doesn't, but it is, and it is going to be," Evanna retorted flatly. It took me a second to work that one out.

"Why?" Arra snarled. "I don't want to be part of bloody destiny."

"_You_," Evanna enunciated the word, as she spun on her heel to face us, "aren't. That is." She gave a lazy point to Arra's stomach, and the corner of Arra's mouth twitched, as if the idea of what it actually meant to be pregnant was slowly sinking in.

"Which means that I am!" Arra said, and Evanna seemed to begin to grow again at the snapping tone in her voice. Arra, noticing that too, took a breath to try to calm her temper. "I don't like children."

"You used to," Evanna said pointedly, seeming to return to typical size. "When you were younger. Funny how people stop liking things they can't have." Arra stared at her, lips pursed in something between between a frown and a sneer. Her hands were shaking at her sides, and her chest rising and falling as though she was about to explode. "All you have to do," Evanna said, turning away again, "is raise it till the time comes that it can start to influence the future."

"That's hardly all I have to do," Arra spat. "And how the hell long will that be anyway? A year? Ten? Does it...will it be a vampire? Will it grow at a tenth of the rate as a human child?"

Evanna smiled. "I wondered if you would ask that. To be honest, I am not sure. This, after all, is a first. As the baby will be part me just as I am part Desmond Tiny - " At this, I saw Mr. Crepsley stiffen, "- it may grow at a rate somewhere between half and full vampire, or may take on a new time of growth all together."

"But..." Vancha said, sliding to the edge of his chair, "couldn't you find out? You can look into the future, Lady."

"You don't say," she said briskly. "To be fair, I could, but I don't look one, five, or even twenty years in the future. I look far ahead, at final results, not petty details. Whatever the case, time is the least of our concern. Time is a mere human measure for the sake of convenience after all.

"I plan to be back before any of you rise next night, but do not expect me to say more than I have. I will help send you on your way, but that is all. You can try to ask me as many questions as you want, but until I feel the time is right - and don't hold your breath - I'll say nothing." She turned in the door way and cocked her head as she gave us a final smile. "Good day to you all." And she was gone, leaving us with answers that somehow gave us nothing but more questions.

* * *

And so ends 'The Fourth Hunter'. :D What did you all think? I really wasn't sure about this idea, by now it seems dumb to me, but that could just be because it's been floating in my head for a long time. I was pretty nervous about posting it, so let me know what you thought, please, I'd really honestly like to know.

There will be a sequel, if you hadn't already guessed, that I hope to start soon (then again, I promised this chapter would be up 'soon', so 'soon' in me time might end up being longer than I ever mean it to be).

Thank you again to everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, alerted, whatever; I truly appreciate it and hope you enjoyed the story :)

Lots of love to you all,

Amelia :)


	16. Recap of 'The Fourth Hunter'

**A/N: **I've posted the first chapter of the sequel! It's called _The Sixth Path of Destiny_! Check it out! :D I figured since it's been a while, I'd put up a recap for anyone who wanted a little refresher. You don't necessarily need it, but here it is if you want to give it a peek:

* * *

**RECAP OF 'THE FOURTH HUNTER'**

"The Lord of the Vampaneze has been blooded, and is now a half-vampaneze." A mummer swept over the hall at Mr. Tiny's words, but it ended as quickly as it had begun; every vampire was eager to hear what the strange man in rainboots had to say. "However, it is possible to defeat him," Mr. Tiny continued, "if you can destroy him before he becomes a full vampire. Then victory will belong to the vampires.

"There are six ways you can defeat him. Unfortunately, your first chance was the now-dead Kurda Smahlt. That leaves you five. The last one is not a possibility till the very end, when all else has failed, or, all the worse for you, if the chances have gone by unnoticed. There's another one that I'm knocking off the list because it's not my style...it wouldn't be...exciting!"

He grinned around and the hall, as if daring someone to ask what it was – no one did.

"Three left. These three will be encounters, and they are why I've traveled all the way to this desolate mountain. Only four vampires will be able to kill the Vampeneze Lord, and though they can decide to withdraw from the hunt, I would advise against it; in order for the vampires to prevail, they must search for him. Three are present in this hall. As for the other hunter, I would advise heading to the cave of Lady Evanna, and I assume you'll meet up with him on the way."

"Who are the present hunters?" Paris Skyle asked quietly. Every vampire in the hall sat up straight as they stared at Desmond Tiny.

"Well, that takes us full circle," Mr. Tiny said, clasping me on the shoulder – I nearly fell over. I wondered fleetingly why I was standing on this podium to begin with, then remembered that this had all started as my hearing.

"Darren is one of the hunters?" Arrow asked, exchanging glances with Mika and Paris.

"Yes."

The vampires began to mumble again, and from the looks on their faces, they were beginning to think less of their chances. I inhaled sharply at the thought of the fate of the vampire clan resting on my shoulders.

"Would you be so kind as to share with us the other two present hunters, Desmond?" Paris asked.

"It would be my pleasure," Mr. Tiny said dryly. "The sooner you know, the sooner the hunt begins. The other two hunters sitting in this hall are Larten Crepsley and Arra Sails."

* * *

"Vancha and Arra ran into the vampaneze," Mr. Crepsley explained, and I gasped.

"They weren't alone," Arra said. "They were with a human."

"How do you know it was a human, and not just a new vampaneze?" I asked.

"Because the human was a woman," Vancha said, "and the Vampaneze have refused to blood a women for centuries. So the chances of them having blooded a women are almost none, which means that the said woman was either helping them – also highly unlikely – or their next victim."

"But she seemed to be willingly with them," Arra pointed out. "She certainly wasn't struggling."

"What were they doing?" Harkat asked, speaking for the first time since we'd returned to the tree; sometimes he felt uncomfortable participating in Vampire conversations.

"They were in an alleyway, and they seemed to be looking at a map, as though they were plotting," Vancha said. "We considered attacking, but we were greatly outnumbered, and they were armed. For all we know, the female could have had an automatic weapon."

A sudden wave of horror passed over me as I thought more about it. "You don't think any of them could be the Vampaneze Lord, do you?"

"That is what we were discussing when you and Harkat arrived," Mr. Crepsley said. "We doubt it; the idea of them flaunting their Lord so early on does not make sense. I do not agree with the Vampaneze's ways, but they are no fools."

* * *

Sitting on top of the building, I could hear the vampaneze clear as day. "That's ridiculous," another voice said, disregarding what her colleague had just said. This voice was a woman's. I crawled closer to the edge, eager to hear what she had to say. "We haven't seen anyone following us, and I'm starving."

So she was a Vampaneze. What had caused them to reconsider and blood a woman?

"Take it easy, Chira," a slightly familiar-sounding vampaneze told her. "We need to be careful, or we'll begin raising the suspicion of..."

"Look," Chira interrupted him. Her voice was shrill and cutting, and her tone was one of power. "You uphold you ends of the bargain, I'll uphold mine. Do you understand, Gannen?"

I wracked my brains, but I didn't know, and hadn't heard of, anyone named Gannen. I heard someone shift on their feet, then Gannen answered, his voice strained, "Yes."

"Good," Chira replied. "If we know where we're going tomorrow night, let's go back. The sun's almost up, and the others are waiting."

* * *

"Maybe she's the Lord of the...Vampaneze?" Harkat suggested, stuffing a burnt pancake in his mouth.

"And maybe that's why she said something about some bargain?" I added, nodding in agreement with Harkat.

Vancha frowned, "I thought you said Desmond Tiny mentioned that the Vampaneze Lord was a man?"

"He did refer to the Vampaneze Lord as 'he' and 'him', however he never specifically stated that it would be a male, and he may have been intentionally leading us in the wrong direction," Mr. Crepsley said, tilting his head as he considered Harkat's idea. "Though, I doubt that she or any member of that group is the Lord of the Vampaneze. I already said that I find it highly unlikely that they would be so careless with their lord as to remain in one city, massacring the citizens. They would know that they are bound to draw attention to themselves that way."

"I agree that it's improbable," Arra said, "but why else would they blood a woman?"

* * *

Across the woman's cheek, barely visible to a human eye, were three red scratches. I stared at the marks on her face, wondering if I should tell her that she needed to leave, to get out of the city and go as far away as she could.

"Darren?"

I sighed with relief at the sound of Mr. Crepsley's voice behind me. I turned to see him standing several feet away, and I suspected by the way his eyebrows were raised that he also saw the scratches.

"Pardon us, please," he coughed uncomfortably to the woman in front of me... the vampaneze's next victim.

We hurried out of the main room and back into the restroom. A couple guys were in there, and so we waited till they left to begin talking.

"Did you see them?" I asked frantically, pointing to my cheek.

"Yes," he nodded. "She was not the only one. Another woman here has been marked. The scratches are fresh, however, and so I believe that the Vampaneze will not attack till tomorrow night at the earliest."

"What should we do?" I quietly asked.

"We will go find Arra, Vancha, and Harkat," he said. "Two of the full Vampires should stay here tonight just in case the Vampaneze attack earlier than I suspect they will. As for tomorrow night, we will see what happens, but I think it would be wise for Arra, Vancha, and I to all come here."

"What about me and Harkat?" I said. "There are a lot of Vampaneze. If you're going to fight them, we should help."

"We hopefully will not have to fight them," he explained. "If we can scare them into showing us where their hide-out is, we will be able to prepare an attack and catch them off guard. In any case, even if it became necessary to fight them while trying to spare these two lives, the chances of them sending more than three or four of themselves is slim, and so we should be able to handle them.

"Let us go find the others. Even though I doubt the Vampaneze would attack tonight, I am uneasy thinking that they," he jerked his thumb out towards the main room, "are being left unguarded."

* * *

"I wonder what's taking them...so long?" Harkat wondered aloud several minutes later. "It must have been...half an hour ago that Arra...left to find Vancha."

No sooner had the words come out of his mouth than, seemingly out of nowhere, Vancha and Arra appeared in front of us, both breathless. "We need to leave the city," Arra said, a venomous look in her eyes.

"What is it? What happened?" I asked, leaping to my feet.

"We don't have time to explain," she said bitterly, motioning for me to get on her back. As I jumped on, I looked quizzically at Vancha. Though his face was turned down, I could see that there was something wrong. He had a dead, lost look in his eyes, with no remnants of the usual shine and liveliness.

For the next several seconds before we left, I continued staring at him. His shoulders drooped, and he seemed almost to have gotten smaller, if not in physical size in essence. When he looked briefly up, as Harkat climbed onto his back, our eyes met, and when he saw the questioning in my eyes, he shook his head sadly and turned away.

* * *

"So?" I said, tapping Arra on the shoulder. "What happened?"

Her jaw was set, her dark eyebrows scrunched in towards the bridge of her nose; even when Kurda had defeated her on the bars, she hadn't looked so angry.

"He let him get away," she said furiously, turning on her heel to face Vancha as he and Harkat came towards us.

"Let who get away?" Harkat asked, and I saw Vancha twitch uncomfortably under Arra's menacing stare.

"A Vampaneze!" she said, her voice shaking. "We were ten feet from him...you could have killed him! But you stopped; why did you stop?"

"I couldn't kill him," said Vancha, and his voice was small and unrecognizable.

"Damn it, Vancha, then why didn't you let me?" she snapped, as Mr. Crepsley came up behind her. "You grabbed my arm and wouldn't let me go till he disappeared!"

"I couldn't," he said simply, turning away and starting to walk dismally across the field, his head hung.

"Why the hell not?" she bellowed. "He SAW us Vancha! If he hadn't, we could have stayed in the city, but he looked right at us! Now they've won, they chased us out, and they'll stay in the city, killing without restraint!"

Vancha stopped walking and stood perfectly still, his back to us, illuminated momentarily by the moon as it escaped cloud cover. For a moment I feared that he was going to fall over, as he wobbled on his feet. Then, heaving his shoulder's in a great sigh, he spun slowly to face us, his face pale and drawn.

"I couldn't kill him," he repeated, "and I couldn't let you. I..." his voice trailed off and he shook his head, looking up to the sky. "Gods of the Vampires, forgive me," he said softly. "I wish I could have, but something deep down wouldn't let me."

"Why not?" Mr. Crepsley asked softly, seeming to sense that this went deeper than a mistake or a moment of hesitation.

"Because," Vancha said, looking at Arra, whose face was less critical than before, "he was my brother."

* * *

"I need to be alone for a bit," he said tonelessly, beginning to slump slowly off. "Perhaps I will head for Lady Evanna's. When I'm ready to travel together again, I will find you." He paused, then pulled himself up a little straighter. "I will understand if you decide to return to the city. I won't interfere."

And then he began to run, getting up to flitting speed in several seconds. I looked to Mr. Crepsley, who, like Harkat and Arra, was staring at the spot from which Vancha had disappeared. "Should we let him go by himself?" I asked quietly.

Arra sighed and raised a shoulder. "We can't stop him if he wants to be alone. He'll be okay." Then, after a moment, added, "Hopefully."

"He has had a shock," Mr. Crepsley said. "But Vancha was not elected a Prince for no reason; he is strong, and will soon realize that none of us will blame him for not killing his own brother. It is understandable." He slowly lowered himself down onto a rock. "The question now is whether or not we return to the city to finish what we started."

No one answered at first. Harkat and I exchanged glances; I didn't know what I wanted to do. On the one hand, I still despised the vampaneze for killing the humans mercilessly. The vampire blood pumping through my veins was telling me to go back and slaughter the monsters with equal disregard. By the same token, I felt like it would destroy Vancha if we killed his brother. It was one thing to kill a vampaneze (or a group of vampaneze) on the spot, but to go back and track them down with the intention of killing...it just didn't feel right.

"There's something not right about this whole thing," Arra said, being the first to speak. "Beyond the vampaneze being reckless, they seem to be acting under the leadership of one who doesn't share the morals of the vampaneze. To that end, I think we should return and kill them." Her voice was surprisingly confident.

"The vampaneze deserve... to die, but Vancha doesn't deserve... to lose his brother by the... hands of his friends," Harkat piped in, and I nodded slightly in agreement with him. "If we are...putting this to a vote..., mine is to leave now."

"We should finish what we started," Arra disagreed strongly. "They are running wild and will not stop, and they will eventually become intractable monsters."

"You don't have sympathy...for Vancha?" Harkat asked pointedly.

She looked up to meet Harkat's gaze, and I was shocked to see a harshness in her gray eyes. "Vancha will understand," she said coldly. When she noticed my raised eyebrows, she added, "I don't lack sympathy for him, but he said himself that we shouldn't be swayed by his relation to Gannen."

"Perhaps..." Mr. Crepsley began slowly, and we all turned to him, "perhaps we need to look at this from another angle. Yes, Gannen is Vancha's brother. And yes, the vampaneze have been ruthlessly murdering humans. But is it truly our place to interfere in this instance? Desmond Tiny instructed us to follow our hearts. Are our hearts telling us to go back and kill Gannen Harst and the rest of that group of vampaneze? In part, I feel that it is not our place to determine how much feeding is acceptable for them, but I also strongly feel that they have passed beyond what is normal. But has fate intentionally drawn us away because we are not meant to kill them?" He shook his head. "I do not know. Darren, how do you feel about this? If you are inclined one way or the other, it is you who shall make the final decision as a Prince."

"No," I said definitively, shaking my head. I saw Arra's jaw tighten from next to me, but she stayed silent. "I would never be able to look Vancha in the eye if we killed Gannen. If we're following our hearts, my heart says to move on."

* * *

Arra shook her head, sighing. "It was like Tiny could control me. In the Hall of Princes a couple months ago, when he burst in during your hearing, the same thing happened. He reached into his pocket - I'd wager my best staff that that possessed watch was in it - and then he looked my way and I felt like he had some type of hold over me; something I couldn't escape from."

I remembered how her stomach had begun to bleed when he entered and shuddered to think that Mr. Tiny could have caused it. "I feel the same way sometimes," I said slowly. "But I thought it was just because I was afraid of him. I never really thought that he could have some other form of control over us."

She nodded. "I don't know." She stared off into the night sky, and when she spoke again, her voice was low, "Evil things happen in the hands of Destiny."

That sentence rung in my head like a struck gong. We sat in silence, mulling over Destiny and his fickle friend fate. I had always felt like he and his watch had a certain pull on my life, like I was a puppet, and with a wave of his hand, he could make me do anything or go anywhere he wanted. A pounding deep in my chest told me that with a single toss, he could decide to dispose of me completely, and Darren Shan would no longer have a part in the twisted tragedy he called life.

* * *

"Wait," Harkat interrupted Vancha. "Why did you go...to the city in the...first place."

Vancha blinked. "The killings."

"But how did...you know about them?"

"As a matter of fact, Desmond Tiny was the one who mentioned them."

There was a hacking noise from my right as Arra spit her ale back into the mug, choking. "What?" she asked in between gasps for air.

"He happened to be in the rain forest with some Little People," Vancha said, jerking his head towards Harkat. "When I ran into him, he mentioned that he was leaving the next day to go to that city since a lot of people were dying. Said he enjoyed it."

"Why have you not mentioned this until now?" Mr. Crepsley asked, his eyes on Arra, who looked as though she might be sick.

Vancha shrugged. "Didn't think it would be important."

"Desmond Tiny," Arra said, "does not just 'happen' to be anywhere. He didn't appear by chance."

"No one hates Tiny more than me," Vancha said, shaking his head. "But for the first time, he didn't seem to have malicious intent while talking to me. He didn't tell me what to do, or where to go. Didn't say much at all as a matter of fact."

"What did he say?" I asked slowly, exchanging glances with Arra; I could tell we were thinking the same thing.

"Well," Vancha said, thinking. "He wanted to know how I was, and I told him I'd be better if he were in a different dimension. He asked what I was doing in the forest, I told him to screw off. He asked if I wanted some Little People to help me, and after I told him what he could do with his Little People - " he looked at Harkat, "sorry, mate, no offence - that was it. Didn't seem to have any reason for talking to me. He said that if I didn't need his help, he'd get going because there was a massacre in a faraway city he didn't want to miss. After he left, I decided I wanted to fudge it up for him and went to see if I could stop the killings. That was pretty much the extent of it. You know the rest."

"He was baiting you," Arra said. "He wanted you there."

"Can't have," Vancha disagreed. "He didn't tell me which city. I had follow his tracks to find it, and that was no easy feat. Half the time it was as though all of his traces had disappeared and I was after the Little People. He would have dropped some more hints if he wanted me there."

When none of us answered, Vancha asked hesitantly, "Wouldn't he?"

"I don't think so," I said darkly, shaking my head. "Mr. Tiny's smart, he'd know that you'd be on to him."

"Why would he send me to the city in the first place?" he said, and I could tell he still doubted it.

"The vampaneze," Arra said, her face still a pale green. "He wanted you - or, rather us - to run into them."

"Just for the drama?" Harkat said skeptically.

"Possibly," Mr. Crepsley said, though he didn't seem convinced that that was the sole reason. "But would he go to the trouble of hunting of you down, for what turned out to be a five minute conversation, just to drop a hint because he thought it would be entertaining?"

I shrugged. "Mr. Tiny's been known to do weirder things. What else would it be?"

Mr. Crepsley shook his head and sighed. "I am not sure. Though, I believe Lady Evanna, if willing, will be able to answer many of our questions. The more we rest, the faster we will travel this night. Perhaps it is time we turn in."

* * *

"Arra, you know as well as I that it is impossible," Mr. Crepsley told her. I held my breath, afraid they would hear me listening in and stop talking. "I agree that there is something strange going on, more so than we had thought before, but that cannot be it."

"Maybe," she said, sounding unconvinced. "But when you add everything up..."'

"They are coincidences," he said firmly. "Perhaps it is a mind game from Desmond Tiny, designed to create fear for you. Perhaps you are just reading into things, as we all are."

"I told you, it's different," she said simply. "It's not the typical foreboding. It's something else."

There were several beats of quiet again before Mr. Crepsley said, "Maybe it is. However, I am certain that Lady Evanna has the answers that you seek."

* * *

Evanna's tone changed, and with it, the atmosphere in the room. Everyone was at the edge of their seat, listening intently" When Desmond Tiny appeared at Vampire Mountain several months ago, he told you of six different paths in the future, all pertaining to the Lord of the Vampaneze, and thus the future of the existence between the vampires and the vampaneze. One of these paths Desmond brushed by, hoping to avoid completely. As is the case with each of these, Desmond and I saw this sixth path of destiny centuries ago. From the start he was opposed to it, because rather than leading to war, where either the vampires or vampaneze would be triumphant, this had the possibility to bring the clans together in five out of the six possible futures involved only three hunters from the vampire clan, among of course various other non-vampires to help them." She nodded at Harkat. "The sixth path, the least likely of them all, required another to survive."

After several seconds of silence, in barely more than a whisper, Arra said, "Me."

Evanna nodded, "You. Beyond the typical wars all vampires fight, you've been in other predicaments, some inexplicably...coincidental. He wanted you to die. He wanted to have one of his preferred turns of fate ensured, one which didn't involve a fourth hunter. Each time you prevailed in an unlikely scenario, that sixth path of destiny became a little stronger, and Desmond Tiny became a bit more nervous. He became desperate, and his attempts to have you killed became reckless, and finally he realized that he would have to stop, and let things take their natural course, or else risk breaking the laws that govern him, and setting all chaos loose. By the time Darren was blooded, that sixth path had become as strong as the others.

"The vampaneze you encountered not long ago also play into the sixth path of destiny. When he mentioned the city to you, Vancha, he had every intention of you going there and killing them, or of them killing you. Luckily, neither happened. It was irresponsible of him to do; he was bending the laws of fate that govern him to try to get involved after things had already been sent into motion. I am hurrying to tell you this now, because the faster you know, the faster you can protect yourselves - he interfered once, and he won't hesitate to do so again. Even if it means risking it all." She paused to breathe, and Vancha immediately cut in with a question.

"How do the vampaneze - those vampaneze - play in?" he swallowed.

"In the same way you have a fourth hunter, they have an additional player as well. And like I stepped in on your behalf, an accomplice of mine helped to move their side along, giving only a trustworthy few of their hunters as much as I'm telling you."

* * *

"Evanna," Arra said, her voice desperate. "Please, you know what I want to ask. Just..." her tone dropped to a low whisper, "tell me if I'm right."

Evanna's mouth formed into a tight smile, and she nodded.

"What is it?" Vancha asked; he, Harkat, and I were confused. Arra hadn't shared her theory with anyone but Mr. Crepsley.

Evanna answered his question, "Arra is pregnant."

"That's absurd!" he exclaimed. "Everyone knows that vampires can't have children."

"Not usually," Evanna corrected. "Just as Desmond Tiny made it possible for Corza Jarn to sire a child, I have made it possible now. I made it work for the sake of destiny. You see, that child will play a key part in bringing peace between the vampires and vampaneze."

"How? How could a...baby do that?" Harkat asked finally.

Evanna smiled. "I can't tell you that, Harkat. I've already given too much away - when Desmond Tiny finds out how much I've gotten involved, he'll be after me...almost more than he's after you." She wasn't kidding. "Desmond will stop at nothing for chaos: he will set traps for you, he'll send any of his minions from Little People to vampaneze to find you, he'll play games with your minds to tear you apart. I strongly caution you all to avoid him at all costs."

"What if we want to take one of the other paths?" Arra said, her voice something between fury and fear. "I don't want to be part of bloody destiny."

"_You_," Evanna enunciated the word, as she spun on her heel to face us, "aren't. That is." She gave a lazy point to Arra's stomach, and the corner of Arra's mouth twitched.

"Which means that I am!" Arra said. "I don't like children."

"All you have to do," Evanna said, turning away, "is raise it till the time comes that it can start to influence the future.

"I plan to be back before any of you rise next night, but do not expect me to say more than I have. I will help send you on your way, but that is all. You can try to ask me as many questions as you want, but until I feel the time is right - and don't hold your breath - I'll say nothing." She turned in the door way and cocked her head as she gave us a final smile. "Good day to you all." And she was gone, leaving us with answers that somehow gave us nothing but more questions.

I looked from Evanna to Arra to Mr. Crepsley over and over again, trying to make sense of it all. I couldn't figure out how everything would tie in. How was this sixth path of destiny going to bring peace between the vampires and vampaneze?


End file.
